


Blood Doesn't Make Family

by musicdefinesusall



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, But still follows some of the main plot lines, Father!Crowley, half-demon!Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2017-11-28 21:38:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 72,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/679146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicdefinesusall/pseuds/musicdefinesusall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his own one night, Crowley discovers a house where he hears a child being abused by his family. He takes the kid in and adopts him as his own son. The child: Harry Potter before he gets his Hogwarts letter. This is a story of him growing up with Crowley as his father and all the obstacles that come with becoming half demon; along with also being a wizard. (Not a romance story)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I currently have this story over at my fanfiction.net account with the same account name:  
> http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1223395/  
> And so I now decided to also post it over here now that I have an account. I will post all the current chapters I have so far, though it may take me a few days to go through and post all of the chapters I have and make sure all the formatting is all good - and so I also apologize for any formatting errors since I'm new to Ao3 and how stories are posted here. I want to say right now that I do not plan to have Harry paired with anyone for any sort of romantic relationship. I do plan to make this into a collection of stories, and I am almost at the end of what will be Book 1.

A lone figure was walking along a street in Little Whinging, Surrey, as the light coming from the moon and stars were slowly blackened by the clouds. The man was wearing what appeared to be a very expensive and stylish black suit with an equally classy black tie. Crowley was in the process of making one of his usual rounds one night as he passed through Privet Drive – looking for souls that maybe wanted to make a deal. He usually didn't frequent lone neighborhoods like this posh one, with manicured, magazine perfect lawns, but you never knew who was out and about. And you never knew who would be willing to do anything for fame, fortune, or fornication.  


It was what happened during this nighttime stroll that would cause Crowley to remember it forever. As he passed by number three, Privet Drive, he started to hear yelling from a nearby house. He found that the next house over had their blinds pulled on the windows, but some shadows could still be seen against the drapes from the light from the room. Though he could only just see what was going on through the crack in the blinds, he could easily hear snippets of a man yelling at what Crowley assumed to be a child.

"You worthless piece of trash always getting in the way…freak…so ungrateful for what we have done for you…should never have been born…useless parents of yours…" What Crowley heard shocked him to the core, and what little emotion he had was pulled to the front of his heart. The demon walked closer to number four, only to feel a sting as he tried to step onto the property line.

"What the…?" With a confused look on his face, Crowley reached out with his left hand only to feel what seemed to be a wall of sorts.

"Now what nasty thing do we have here and why?" He could feel the magic radiating off of the invisible wall, and wondered why he didn't feel it before he ran face first into it. Curious as to what it was, he closed his eyes and concentrated on what was before him, all the while hearing the abuse continuing on from inside the house. He pulled his hand away as he opened his eyes with an even more confused look on his face.

"Why the hell are there blood wards here of all places? It probably runs around the whole ruddy property…" grumbled Crowley as he looked around the place trying to figure things out. With one last look towards the house where he could hear objects crashing into the walls, he turned and walked away.

"Sorry, kid. But I can't help you."

As he walked away from the house and disappeared, he couldn't help but think about the rare emotion that was filling his body because of the nameless child he had left behind.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next night found Crowley once again walking along the same path that led to number four, Privet Drive. Though if asked why, he would deny anything that resembled any sort of worry for the small child he glimpsed the other night through the curtains, and would promptly throw a fist in your face for suggesting it.

Not wanting to face the same mistake as last time, Crowley slowed to a stop inches before where the property line started for this mysterious house with the wards. Again, he could hear the pained cries of the small boy from the inside, and he could only close his eyes as he looked downward towards the ground.

"I'm sorry, kid, but I can't get to ya. Wish I could; though don't go around telling your friends that a demon cares about a human kid. Don't know why I'm even here again when I should be elsewhere making deals…" he trailed off as he could hear a piercing cry for help from the inside. He could only clamp his jaw shut as he brought a hand up to rub across his face, shut eyes cast downward.  
This continued on for several nights with some of them being worse for the kid than others. It was then a night a few days later that found Crowley with a visitor.

"So the big, bad demon has a soft spot. Who knew?"

"Shuddup, angel."

"Cause I think that you may care a little bit for the little one that's in there." The sound of a candy being unwrapped was the only sound in addition to the silent pleads coming from inside the house. Crowley turned to look at his companion only to look right into a set of honey golden eyes full of pity and sorrow. Any retort was cut off as Crowley let out a breath and turned back towards the house.

"Is there any way you can go in and get him, Gabriel?"

"No, I'm sorry, but I can't. The magic that is surrounding this house must not only just keep evil out, but all forms of magical beings. Either that, or all magical creatures that the people inside are unfamiliar with. I'm not sure how to explain it."

"It even keeps out angels?"

"Even angels. Look, Crowley, it's apparent that…" Crowley raised a hand to cut off what Gabriel was about to say, already knowing where this discussion was leading them.

"Just don't, okay? I'll be fine – I should be leaving anyways. High priority deals that needs to be dealt and all that..." The demon trailed off as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, I'm sure it will all be fine soon."

"Whatever." He brushed the other's hand off his shoulder as he started to walk away before disappearing to a different location. The saddened eyes that followed him stayed in the place where the demon disappeared for another few minutes before he turned to look at the house, hand pressed against the wards. He could feel the magic swirling around his hand, and he could tell that it was only a matter of time before it accepted Crowley not as a dangerous stranger, but as someone who genuinely cares about the boy the wards are supposed to be protecting rather than keeping the help out. Gabriel could sense a sort of intelligence within the blood wards, and he knew that it was working as much as it could to change itself to allow them in.

"Magic – you think you understand it, and then it goes and does something magical to screw up what you knew of it before. Hang on, kid. Just try to hold out for a few more days." With that, the archangel closed his eyes and vanished.

~*~*~*~*~*~

This continued on for another few days, each night seeming to progressively become worse and worse for the small child inside the house. And each night left Crowley with a little more sadness creeping slowly at the corners of his mind. He knew that things like this happened all the time – and he loved setting his hellhounds on those who made a deal with him and had a history of abusing their family. But there was something about the small, helpless child on the inside of the house on number four, Privet Drive that touched something inside of him.  
It finally got to a point where Crowley sat down, invisible to the humans around him, with his back leaning against the wards that kept him from doing a random act of kindness. 

He rested his head between his knees as he muttered to himself, "The day I get a chance to kill those bastards and bring their souls to Hell, they'll wish they never laid a finger on that boy." Something inside him stirred as he thought about the torture that the people inside the house would go through on the racks. His grin and the look in his eyes would be enough to send anyone running in the opposite direction.  
The sound of a door opening behind him pulled Crowley out of his thoughts as he turned around to see what was going on. It was then when he got his first clear view of the boy. Still invisible to the human eye, Crowley slowly stood as he watched with a murderous gleam in his eyes as he saw the black haired boy being literally kicked out of the house. It was just past midnight, and there was no chance that any of the neighbors would be able to see what was going on – if they even cared since there was no way that the abuse of this poor boy could have gone unnoticed.

"I have had enough of your freakishness, boy! This is the last straw! I told you not to do any of that freaky stuff of yours, and what do you do? You clearly disobeyed my orders and let that…freakishness happen!"

"I'm sorry, sir! I promise it won't happen agai…" A slap was heard, and it made Crowley wince. He was able to see what was going on, but there was nothing he could do to help the boy; nothing to quell the anger boiling up inside of him at the treatment of the young child that looked to be no more than six years old. He paced alongside the property line as he watched the whale of a man kick the child outside the door and into the cold night. He stopped and placed a hand against the ward that was keeping him out, concern and worry overtaking some of the anger that was rising up.

"I don't want to see you or any of your type ever again!" And with that, the door was slammed, leaving the child sniffling and cradling his right arm against his side while his left grabbing at his stomach. Crowley's eyes widened as he felt the barrier keeping him from the young boy slowly dissolve, letting his hand fall through. He immediately checked to see if he was able to walk onto the previously forbidden property, and was overjoyed to find that he could. As he ran towards the figure that was slowly losing consciousness, four words were whispered into his head with an almost loving embrace, take care of him.

He fell down beside the boy as his eyes instantly scanned his figure to see what the damage was. With that, Crowley could see that the boy in his arms was severely damaged, and that he would not be able to heal what was wrong. By now he was visible to the human eye, not that he cared to be seen, and his top priority was to get out of there. In a matter of seconds, both he and the child were gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Gabriel, get your feathery ass in here right now!" Crowley yelled as soon as he appeared with the unconscious boy in his bedroom. The angel appeared in the room as the demon was carefully setting the child onto the silk sheets of his black bed. Gabriel was quickly by his side as he took in the sight of the battered and bruised kid. Silently understanding already what the other was asking, the angel kneeled down beside the bed and laid one hand on the boy's forehead as the other found its way into holding the small injured hand of the petite child. Crowley stepped back a few feet, not wanting to risk the chance of the angel's grace touching him. After a minute, Gabriel stood up and turned to look at his friend.

"What do you plan to do now? You've rescued the kid, now what are you gonna do with him?"

Crowley looked towards the other and said, "I'll raise him as my son."


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re gonna what?!” Gabriel’s shocked cry came from where he stood by the edge of the bed. Crowley sighed as he glanced at the boy sprawled out on the black sheets, asleep from the powers of the archangel, before looking to his friend.

“You saw what happened to him, and I’m sure you were able to tell what happened to him before now because of all the injuries he had.”

“I know, Crowley, and that brings me to what I have to tell you before you make your decision final. Not only should you figure out why there was the blood ward around the house, but you should know that he’s not quite as human as you may have thought.”

“What do you mean?” Crowley gave the angel a perplexed look.

“I mean that some of his injuries in him were already slowly healing themselves. Faster than a normal human at least. So after seeing that, I took a deeper look inside him to see what made him tick, and I found a magical core,” Gabriel slowly told the demon before him. Crowley once again had a slightly confused look on his face as he tilted his head in question.

“He’s a wizard.” Crowley’s confusion gradually changed to understanding as his mind processed what he was just told.

“So you mean to tell me that this child has natural magic in him? That he is one of those wand waving pansies from across the pond?” Crowley walked to look out the window of his American home as he worked out the information that he was just given – his mind was rapidly going through all that he knew about witches and wizards.

“Well, you did find him in England. So it makes sense. I’m actually kinda surprised that you’ve heard of them before, with how much time you spend over here in the states.” Gabriel pulled a sucker out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and placed it in his mouth.

“I’ve been around long enough to know about them – I just never felt the need to go see them for myself.” Gabriel nodded at what he was told, and decided to also explain another thing that he had found while examining the boy.

“There’s another thing in addition to everything… The scar on his head, it’s not natural. I mean, I guess it could be natural for magic, but it’s not a normal scar. It felt wrong and evil when my grace brushed up against it. I honestly have no idea what it is.” Another puzzled look was directed at Gabriel, and Crowley had no idea what to make of this new information.

“I guess we will just leave it for now, cause you didn’t say that it’s harming him, did you?” Crowley asked his friend who only shook his head negatively. “Since it does seem to be dark in nature, of course your grace wouldn’t like it. Though I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, and it may just go away in time.” 

In response, Gabriel lightly joked back with asking a question he felt that he already knew the answer to, “So tell me, is the King of the Crossroads going to become a daddy?” 

“As a matter of fact, yes, I think I am. You saw how he was being treated, and with him having a magical core, it will allow me to perform the ritual.” With that said, Gabriel sharply looked at him and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the other.

“It’s not what you may be thinking, darling. I would hope that after all these years you would trust me a little. After all, I am one of the few who actually knows who you are under that Trickster disguise of yours. It’s a simple ritual that will make me his father after a few Latin words and just a little mixing of our blood. And maybe it will do something about his scar, you never know.” Crowley paused before continuing,

“I’m not surprised that you haven’t heard of anything like it since it has very rarely been used among demons, and, well, you’re an angel. Our rituals don’t usually carry over into angel schools for the little bird brains to learn. Much too dark in the eyes of your kind.”

“At least tell me that you’re going to ask him if it’s what he wants when he wakes up.” Crowley indignantly replied back offended.

“Yes, yes. Of course I’m going to give the lad a choice. Who do you think I am? A common low life demon?” Gabriel raised his hands in defense.

“You never know. So tell me what will happen with this ritual of yours?”

“Like I said, little of this, a little of that mixed with some of his blood and my blood all tossed together in a bowl with some words said over it. Then a few runes drawn on him and me with the mixture with some more words and we’re all good.” The archangel looked at him skeptically.

“It’s really that easy and painless?” At that, Crowley looked down and mumbled something in reply.

“What was that, Crowley?” The demon in question took a breath and repeated what he said, but louder.

“It will make him half demon…” Gabriel pulled back and thought about it.

“How will that change him?”

“If my thoughts are correct, then all things that would harm a demon will also be slightly harmful to him. I’m sure things like salt and a demon trap will work against him. Though I’m unsure if he would have enough demon in him to be able to be summoned or not. I just hope that we never have to see if that works.” He trailed off as Gabriel contemplated what he was just told.

“If it makes you feel any better, he’ll still be half human with his normal, full wizard powers.” That seemed to reassure the angel as he seemed to weigh the pros and cons of a half demon human wizard. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

By now it has been a few hours since the boy was kicked out of his house, and Crowley was growing restless waiting for him to wake up. He looked from where he was sitting beside the bed to his angel friend who was doing something in the kitchen. Crowley continued to grow even more curious as he heard Gabriel swear in what he thought to be Enochian.

“What the hell are you doing in there?” Crowley was about to get up and find out for himself when he saw the one in question was walking back into the room with a plate full of various sweets which ranged from doughnuts to brownies to cookies. Crowley just looked up at Gabriel with a weird look on his face as he watched the angel place the platter on the table beside the bed.

“What is that?” He asked, eyeing the platter with distaste.

“Well, he probably is going to be hungry when he wakes up, and what kid doesn’t like these?” He said, gesturing to the varied array of pastries and sweets beside him, grabbing one for himself as an afterthought. The dark haired man could only sigh in exasperation at the action of his friend before trying to calmly explain why it would be a bad idea.

“He can’t just eat sweets! I know you always do, but you’re not human! He is, and with what he’s gone through, he needs actual food.” Before Gabriel was able to reply back with a retort of his own, a rustling of sheets was heard alongside that of a small groan. Immediately the two ceased their petty argument in favor of looking towards the mystery child who was slowly waking up. Gabriel stood a few feet away from the foot of the black and white bed to allow Crowley some semblance of privacy with the young kid, eventually making his way to lean against the wall by the door, still munching on the sweet that he had grabbed.

Crowley watched on intently as green eyes flickered open to try to focus the surroundings. Noticing the man sitting beside the bed watching him, the boy began struggling to sit up and face the stranger. A look of confusion swept over his young face as he swiveled his head to look around the room, eyes stopping at the man standing by the door for a few moments before a look of shock appeared on his face. His hands quickly went to his sides and legs starting to look for the nonexistent injuries that previously adorned his body.

“Wha…?” His small, feeble voice gasped out before his attention went back to Crowley’s patient form sitting to his right.

“Where am I? Who are you people?” At the second question, Gabriel stifled a small snort with a hand fisted in front of his mouth. The boy’s eyes snapped to his action, but they just as quickly went back to focus on Crowley just in time to see him give a dirty look at the other’s action. He looked back over to the man beside the door to see him shrug his shoulders a little bit, then back again at the dark haired man to see him roll his eyes at his companion before looking back to the bed. Taking a breath, Crowley readied himself for the long talk ahead of him.

“Name’s Crowley. Guy over there is Gabriel. You are currently at my house in Michigan.” At the boy’s increasingly confused looks, he lifted a finger and continued.

“I’ll explain everything, but first, what is your name, luv?”

“M’name’s Harry. Harry Potter.” Gabriel and Crowley shared a quick look before the demon continued with his questions.

“Harry, how old are you?”

“I’ll be nine on July 31st. I’m eight right now.” was Harry’s soft reply. At that, Crowley’s head snapped up and looked at Gabriel. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and returned to look at the boy in front of him.

“May I ask a question, sir?” Harry quietly asked with a shaky voice. Crowley was quick with his reply.

“Yes, yes of course, Harry. Anything you want. And try not to call me sir, makes me feel older than I am.” The boy looked down at his hands and bit his lip before slowly bringing his eyes to look into the eyes before him.

“How…How is it that I, um, that we’re not in England anymore? Isn’t Michigan somewhere across the ocean? How did we get here so fast? And how is it that my arm isn’t broken and my body doesn’t hurt anymore? Have I been asleep for so long that they were able to heal?” Harry’s voice and confidence grew stronger, yet slightly panicked, as he asked a few questions. Crowley smiled at the small boy before him.

“One question at a time,” Harry’s eyes shifted downwards again in shame almost, “but I’ll do my best to answer what you’ve asked so far.” The boy looked back up at those words.

“Now, what do you know about magic, demons, and angels, darling?” A confused look washed over Harry’s face for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night – after all, it was around midnight in England when Crowley was able to rescue Harry, and returning to Michigan with the help from Gabriel would but the time around 7 at night. It was a few hours before Harry woke up, so it was back to being around midnight at this point.

“Like the stuff in books and TV shows?” Harry feebly asked.

“No. What I’m talking about is reality. It’s all real, Harry. The guy over there is the archangel Gabriel, I am a demon, and you are a wizard. Gabriel’s the one who healed you, and when he did, he discovered the magical core within you.” With that said, Harry looked over to Gabriel in shock. 

“You healed me? Why? No one has ever helped me in any way before…” he trailed off and the angel gave him a look of sorrow while Crowley’s heart, or what was left of it, broke at the words he heard.

“You’re saying that your family…” Harry cut him off.

“My parents were killed in a car crash. I’ve been living with my Aunt, Uncle, and their son. They’re not my family though. They stopped being that the day they started…” the boy once again trailed off, seemingly embarrassed or scared to continue. It was at this point when Gabriel cut in.

“Something has me confused here. You don’t seem shocked finding out that you’re a wizard, and you continue on like nothing’s out of the   
ordinary.” Harry only shrugged.

“They always called me a freak with freakish powers doing freakish things, and there’s really nothing that can explain how I did the few things I’ve done on accident besides saying that it was magic. And I don’t believe that it’s natural for someone to be able to talk to snakes. The one time my aunt caught me outside in the garden talking to one, she took a shovel and hit the snake until his head fell off before giving me a whack as a reminder to never do anything of the sort ever again. Of course she told my uncle, and he also reminded me about their rules for me. So it’s not that big of a connection to make to say that if magic is real, then why not magical creatures? The few snakes I’ve talked with told me stories they had of magnificent beings that held animal like qualities, and there seems to be at least a small bit of truth to all stories out there.” He explained his justifications to the two listening to him.

“And you’re not freaked out a bit by a demon and an angel being with you in the same room?” Crowley scrunched his eyebrows as he tried to process how easily the little boy before him rationalized what he had previously expected to be a really long and difficult talk between them.

“No,” Harry shook his head and further replied and motioned to Crowley, “besides, I saw you a few times before the Dursleys actually kicked me out – not like I would want to return for any reason anyways.”

“How did you see me…I kept myself invisible…” Crowley’s mind wandered off in thought as Gabriel also grew confused. He turned to look at his friend by the door with a thought in mind, but decided that they could talk about it later. Gabriel, seeing Crowley still thinking about if he was invisible the whole time or not, stepped forward and asked a question that he knew his friend wanted to know the answer to.

“Do you have any desire to return to the Dursleys?” The boy’s eyes grew wide with fear as he hurriedly answered back.

“No! Please don’t make me go back there!” Harry pleaded as he looked Crowley straight in the eye.

“Harry, Harry, darling. Don’t fret. We won’t make you go back to that dreadful place. In fact, I have a question for you – but don’t think you have to answer right away. I want you to be sure about your answer.” At Harry’s nod to continue, Crowley asked him the question that internally made him exceedingly nervous, though he would never admit it to anyone.

“Harry, would you like me to adopt you as my son?” What was only a few seconds for an answer seemed like decades to the demon. The kid’s answer made him feel like his heart stopped. Bright green eyes bore into his skull as Harry earnestly answered with a yes. At Crowley’s genuine smile at the answer, arms launched around his neck, and a dark mop of hair was pushed into his face. Crowley closed his eyes, and when he opened them he saw Gabriel with a box of tissues in one hand while the other wiped away the silent tears in his eyes. He rolled his eyes at the angel’s actions, but he couldn’t help the soft smile that graced his face.

“Tell me, Harry, do you care what happens to the Dursleys?”

“Honestly, no. I don’t. They can rot in hell for all I care.” And with that, and evil grin spread across the demon’s face.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a few hours later that found Crowley and Gabriel talking with hushed voices just outside the master bedroom where Harry was fast asleep. It was during the past few hours that Crowley had explained a little bit about what demons can do along with a bit about other supernatural creatures that are out there – of course nothing too scary was explained to the boy, only basics like ghosts and hellhounds and wendigos. Gabriel on the other hand explained some about angels and the differences between the witches who get their magic from deals and such as opposed to witches and wizards like himself who are natural born with a magical core. After some hours of questions and answers, Harry had begun to nod off, and Crowley had proclaimed that it was time for him to go to bed and that they would talk more when he woke up. The boy was out in a matter of minutes. This led to Crowley dragging Gabriel out of the room to talk.

“Okay, what’s on your mind, I know you’ve been itching to ask me or tell me something ever since the kid woke up. Now what is it?” Gabriel placed his hands on the other’s shoulders as his eyes bored into the face across from him. This brought forward a heavy sigh as he thought about how to word the following to his friend.

“Is it just me, or does he seem older than he really is? I mean, he doesn’t talk like an eight year old boy, and he looks like he’s even younger.”

“I'm not surprised, I mean, look at what the lad’s gone through. I’m sure anyone in his situation would change. I doubt that he’s ever had any sort of happy memory with that family – if you can even call them one.” Gabriel nodded in agreement at Crowley’s words.

“With the injuries inside of him that I healed, there will always be echoes of all the breaks and scars. Though they may not be seen with human eyes, anyone able to sense an angel’s grace will be able to see all that I put into his body to heal.”

“So not only will he soon be a half demon human wizard, but he’ll also have traces of an angel in him?” Crowley tilted his head, and Gabriel shook his.

“Nah, like I said. They’re only echoes that won’t change him in any sort of way. Nothing to worry about with your little sketchy ritual.” A pat to the demon’s cheek finished off his line as Crowley then whacked the hand away. He then asked the other if he would stay and watch over the sleeping Harry while he went out to take care of some business.

“Yeah, sure. You can trust me to keep him safe.” Gabriel brought his right hand to his head as if he was saluting the man in front of him. Crowley groaned and rolled his eyes as he turned around to walk away from the bedroom door. He turned around again and pointed a finger at Gabriel.

“I swear, if anything happens to him while I’m away, I…”

“…will sic your little puppy on me to use as his new chew toy. Yes, I know.” Gabriel finished the sentence for his friend, showing that he has clearly used the same threat before.

“Exactly.” And with that last statement, Crowley disappeared from sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was around 8 in the morning as the Dursley family was sitting around the dining room table at number four, Privet Drive eating their breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits. It appeared that it was a perfectly normal morning for the family, and there seemed to be an aura of happiness within them at the absence of a particular child.

“Dudleykins, can you pass me the salt, please?” Big, chubby hands closed around the glass salt shaker as he passed it to his mother on his right. Thin, sticklike fingers gripped it and shook some onto her food before placing it back down on the table. The three of them ate in comfortable silence as Dudley scarfed down as much bacon and sausage as he could, Petunia cut her food into pieces and ate all ladylike with her elbows off the table, and Vernon was a medium between the two eating habits of his family.

It was just as Dudley was helping himself to another stack of bacon and sausage that a knock was heard at the door. Petunia laid down her fork and knife before standing up and patting down her dress before going to answer the door. She opened it to come face to face with a dark haired man with piercing eyes and a smile that made her freeze.

“Wh…Who are you?” Petunia stumbled as she backed away from the door at Crowley’s insistence. At the sound of what was occurring at the front door, Vernon and Dudley joined them in the living room. The demon walked into the house and shut the door with a flick of the wrist.

“Isn’t that wonderful. The whole family coming out here to see me. I’m flattered.” Just as Vernon began to yell at Crowley, he and the others were flung against the wall with a flick of the hand. With another gesture, all three were left silent; not being able to make any sound at all, but their eyes told it all: they were petrified.

“Where is that smell coming from? It smells like someone pissed themselves.” He raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Dudley and shook his head.

“I am going to skip right over all the fluff and confusion and get right to the bone of the situation here. My name is not important, but if you must know, it’s Crowley. I am the demon in charge of all the crossroad deals, though you can just call me the King of the Crossroads. Any questions so far?” Suddenly all three Dursleys found themselves able to speak again as they fell to the floor. It was craziness as they pieced together what they heard: Dudley was heard crying for his mom and dad to make the bad guy go away, Petunia was speechless with only tears in her eyes, and Vernon was the most vocal of the three.

“Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing in MY house?” He stomped forward until he was inches away from the other man.

“Didn’t you pay attention at all? Moron. My name is Crowley, and I am here to send you to Hell for what you did to Harry.” That only furthered the anger of the huge man as he was both insulted and furious at what was happening in his own home.

“Who are you to tell me what I did and didn’t do? Just get out of my house, I don’t care who you claim to be, you’re just a freak like that useless boy was! JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!” To further what he was trying to say, Vernon swung his fist in a punch towards Crowley, but clearly was not expecting the man to catch his fist and turn it in a way that made the bone break right through the skin. Petunia screamed for her husband now on his knees before the demon, and Dudley was poorly hidden under the kitchen table crying. Crowley bent over and whispered into Vernon’s ear,

“That’s only a small fraction of the pain that you’ll experience down on the racks in Hell.” He stood back up and dragged the fallen man with him by holding onto his neck. As soon as they were both back up, Vernon was thrown into the wall by the door, exposing Crowley’s back to the two others behind him. Just as Mr. Dursley was pushed up the wall by the hand on his neck, forks and plates were being thrown at him with shaky demands to “let my daddy go!” Crowley turned just as the pepper shaker shattered to the right of him, and the salt shaker shattered right above him. Vernon was immediately dropped to the ground as Crowley jumped back, turned around, and ended the onslaught of mundane kitchen items by the pig of a child by throwing Dudley against the stove with a quick movement of his right hand. Upon closer inspection, the force of the hit had knocked the boy out, and Crowley let him drop to the ground unconscious. His attention then turned on bringing the lovely couple together on the same wall for ease of convenience.

“Why are you doing this to us?” Came Petunia’s sniffled question.

“Like you don’t know,” was the growled out answer. “Did Harry ever ask you the same question before you beat him into the ground? Before you kicked him until bones broke and skin was ripped away? Tell me, did Harry ever plead for you to stop and you just kept on going? Ignoring his every gasp and cry with the only response you had was to continue abusing him until he was passed out from blood loss or worse?”

“Why do you care about the freak so much?” Vernon’s other hand was given a quick twist to provide the sounds of more bones snapping and another whimper of pain.

“Why did you have to hurt him so much? Like I said before, this is only a small portion of the pain that you’ll feel in Hell. Down there, it will be so much worse.”

“What! You can’t do that to us!” Was Petunia’s panicked plea. Crowley rolled his eyes and looked at her.

“What part of demon did you not understand? The ‘I can send you to Hell’ or the ‘I can send you to Hell’ part? Hmm?” He curled his hand in a way that made the woman start to choke on her own blood, and did the same to her husband too.

“If it makes you feel any better, I won’t be sending your spoiled brat down there with you. Though I don’t know if he’ll live through today, that seems to be a rather large pool of blood forming around his head, don’t you think so?” He looked over at the boy with his arms and legs spread out on the kitchen floor with, true to his word, a pool of blood forming around his head. At the parents’ panicked looks, he continued.

“He’s still alive right now, but you two won’t be for long. I have already spent much more time than I was expecting here, but, ya’ know, you can’t always rush pain or torture if you want to do it right. Though I guess you could if needed.” The last part was more of a statement to himself as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Now, I have someone I want you to meet.” At this statement, a growl was heard from the kitchen area and rather large bloody paw prints were seen slowly leading from the pool of the red substance at Dudley’s head all the way to stand at Crowley’s right side.

“This boy here’s my pup – one of the finest hellhounds you’ll ever meet.” A cold smile formed on his face as he looked between Petunia and Vernon. With a hand resting on the invisible creature beside him, Crowley smirked.

“You know, there’s a special place in Hell for people like you who do what you did to Harry. And trust me, it’s worse than Hell.” At the increasingly terrified looks on their faces and blood rolling down their faces, Crowley yelled out the last words that Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would ever hear in their live bodies.

“Sic ‘em, boy!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Crowley stood in the center of the Dursley’s living room and brought a hand up to wipe away some of the blood that had splattered on his face, a content smile spread across it.

“Good boy.” A wet tongue licked the blood off his hand before the sound of the hellhound padding away was heard. Crowley glanced at the shredded bodies of Vernon and Petunia one last time before turning around to walk away. At least that was his plan until he came face to face with a lady who was looking right at him. She had fiery red hair and piercing green eyes that seemed familiar somehow. Before he was able to say or do anything, she flickered out of appearance before appearing right back, unknowingly answering Crowley’s unspoken question and allowing him to not worry about talking to a human who would be sure to ask about the bloody scene.

“Thank you. Thank you for taking him in.” Realization dawned on his face as he heard her words and made the connection as to why the green eyes seemed familiar – they were the same as Harry’s.

“You’re his mum, aren’t you.” It was more of a statement than a question. She smiled back at him and nodded with sad eyes.

“Yes, I am Harry’s mother, Lily Potter.”

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but why are you here?”

“Crowley, the night my husband and I died, I vowed to stay with my baby until I knew he would be safe and in a loving home. I didn’t expect it to be this long of a wait though. I wasn’t able to do much to help him from my sister; I never wanted him to go to her and her husband. The least I could do was to create the ward around the house to keep out those who would hunt him down for what he did to Voldemort. You see, I knew something like that may have happened to my family, so I took some precautions before the night, I found a way to make sure I could protect my Harry at least a little after we were gone.” At this, Crowley interrupted her, already over the idea of talking to what seemed to be a ghost, after all, he’s seen and done weirder.

“You said that you and your husband were killed, how? Harry told me that it was a car crash that killed you.”

“My sister lied to him, which is no surprise. She always hated magic, and as soon as Harry showed signs of wizardry, she of course tried to stamp it out of him with the help of her no good husband. We were murdered on Halloween night by a powerful wizard who called himself Voldemort, though his real name was Tom Riddle. I’m sure that there are other demons or people out there who could tell you more about him – I don’t have the time to stay and chat more.”

“What do you mean?” Crowley questioned.

“When I died, I made sure to leave a small portion of my soul with Harry with this spell I found. It would be enough to allow me to do little things to protect him, like create that ward, but not enough to keep him safe from being abused. As time went on, all my power went to keeping the ward up since I knew that if any of the Death Eaters found out where he was, he would be dead. Though I’m not sure who would’ve been better for him, the Dursleys or Death Eaters.”

“Then how was I able to break through to get to him when they kicked him out?”

“I told you that all my strength went into keeping them as strong as the first day I created them. I never expected to need to break them down to allow a demon in, so it took a while for me to do so in my weakened state. I could sense your good intentions with how often you came to see him, so while it was a slow process, I was able to break the wards down. Now that you’re taking care of him, I have no need to hold on to this form.” She placed a hand under Crowley’s chin and placed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you.” she whispered with a smile as she gradually faded away from sight. Crowley blinked as he brought his hand to the place where he felt her kiss him. He then turned to look at his handy work with the Dursleys and made a comment to the air.

“At least I don’t need to worry about angry parents disapproving of their son’s new father.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Gabriel looked up from the newspaper that he was reading with a sucker in his mouth to see a bloody Crowley return at last.

“You look like you were busy.” With a snap of fingers on the angel’s part, Crowley was clean again. A glare that would be completely ignored was sent towards the candy loving angel.

“You know that I am fully capable of cleaning myself, right?”

“It was faster my way, and you love it. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.” Crowley rolled his eyes at Gabriel’s words and decided to go for a change of topic.

“So how’s Harry?”

“Still sleeping like a log.” The sound of a chocolate being unwrapped filled the silence this time.

“Good.” With that, Crowley looked into the bedroom and smiled at the sleeping child who would become his son the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry frantically opened his eyes, not remembering where he was at first, but he then slowly looked around the room he was in and recalled what happened the day before. He took a breath and collected his thoughts. It all seemed too surreal to him, after all, he had an inkling that magic was real because of the small things that happened to him that couldn’t be explained, but he never thought that he would ever meet an angel or demon in his life. Looking at the bedside clock after resting his head back down against the pillow, Harry saw that it was 5:30 in the morning – the time that he woke up at every morning for as long as he could remember.

His body became used to waking up at that time so he would have enough time to do some quick chores around the house and start breakfast for the others to have it ready by the time they came into the kitchen. He learned a long time ago that even if he only got a few hours of sleep, it was way better than getting hit with the belt or whip first thing in the morning just because the food wasn’t on the table before the Dursleys sat down to eat. But the food couldn’t be placed out too soon, or God forbid it grows cold. Harry would then find himself having to make it all over again – this time with the knowledge that he would get it worse than usual once Vernon had his fill to eat. The wasted food would then just be thrown away in the trash, and Harry would have no chance to eat any more than a sacred single piece of burnt toast if he was lucky.

He grew up real quick, learning what would get him only a few punches and what would get him a few broken bones. And with it came the self-taught know how of taking care of his own injuries through a long process of trial and error over the years. He definitely had the practice.

Not being able to go back to sleep – even though he knew he could – it was hard to break a habit that was so ingrained into his daily routine that his body was used to. Already his mind and body was assessing what injuries were the worst, what ones he knew were okay to push, and what ones were almost healed. Along with that was the check to see if any old injuries were flaring up and would cause problems. Harry was happy to look at the ceiling and take comfort in the feeling of having no pain for once – it was a feeling he doesn’t remember feeling at all in his life, and it was pure bliss.

With his body still going through the motions of a regular morning, Harry mindlessly swung his feet out from underneath the silk sheets that slid off his legs and body. Letting his feet sink into the plush carpet below, he immediately sprung to work making the bed. Pillows off, sheets pulled taunt, comforter swung straight, sheets tucked under the mattress, pillows grabbed and placed neatly back onto the bed, then smoothing out any remaining wrinkles or creases that could be taken out by hand. In a matter of minutes, the bed was made up again for the night, and Harry stood at the foot of it, content smile on his face.

Harry stifled a yawn as he looked to see some clothes folded up on the table beside the bed. He glanced down at the pajamas that Gabriel had made for him the night before – they were just simple black sweatpants and a slightly baggy green shirt which was very comfortable. Harry grabbed the pile of clothes and unfolded them to take a look to see what was there. A simple white cotton t-shirt with blue jeans. He then stripped down to his underwear before slipping the clothes onto his slim frame. Both the jeans and shirt definitely fit him a lot better than the clothes he was used to wearing. Picking up the recently discarded clothes, Harry folded them up nicely, and then placed them where he found the clothes that he was currently wearing.

These new clothes felt foreign to him; after all, he was used to Dudley’s old, raggedy clothes that had to be held up by pieces of rope since he was not worth getting a belt for in the minds of the Dursleys. Add in the wear and tear from the daily beatings to the already old clothes, and you got clothes that were hanging on by threads. Harry welcomed this new feeling of clothes that fit properly.

He padded out of the room and went from walking on carpet to walking on wood flooring. Not having been outside the room he was previously in, Harry was hesitant to wander around without knowing where he was allowed to go and where he wasn’t. He looked around the room he just entered, and saw several black leather couches and chair surrounding a very fancy looking wood table that was standing on an equally fancy rug that had different designs on it. In front of these was a rather large flat screen television. Looking to the left of the room, he saw a doorway that led to what appeared to be a small hallway, to his right was a door that was cracked open slightly to reveal a bathroom, and almost center in the back of the living room was another doorway that was open without doors that showed what Harry was looking for: the kitchen.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, a skill he learned while living with the Dursleys, Harry made his way to the kitchen and flicked on a light. What greeted him was a rather modern looking kitchen with a sleek look to the decoration and appliances. There was a definite dark feel to it though with the dark color scheme, but it somehow worked. Given who lived here though, it didn’t serve much of a surprise. Harry looked through all of the cabinets and closets to acquaintance himself as to where the pots and pans were along with what dry food and ingredients were here. Next he moved to look into the refrigerator and freezer to see what was stored there.

He wasn’t quite sure what his new family liked to eat, so he decided to start making a little bit of a few common breakfast items. It was after spending time trying to find everything that Harry made the decision to only stick with one main food, and have a few several side dishes. So Harry grabbed stuff to make pancakes with sides of sausage, hash browns, and fruit salad made with whatever types of fruit he found. He then also grabbed a bowl to start making the pancake batter in before getting a pan out to place on the stovetop.

Just as Harry began mixing together some of the ingredients for the pancakes, he was interrupted by the sound of Crowley walking in. He turned to look at the demon, and was confused to see an equally confused look on the other’s face.

“What’s this?” Harry looked down at the bowl of dry ingredients for the pancakes and bit his lip.

“Well, I figured that you guys would want some breakfast to eat when you woke up, so I went ahead and started to make some...” He trailed off and steadily talked lower and lower until Crowley could not hear what he was saying clearly, though he did think he heard something along the lines of “would not want me anymore if I didn’t do anything.”

“Harry, darling, you did not have to do this. I guess it slipped my mind to tell you that demons and angels don’t need to eat. Gabriel went out and got all this food for you before he left to go do whatever it is that he does these days – though I’m sure he’d still eat any food made for him for some odd, unknown reason.” At Harry’s bracing look, one that made it seem like he did something wrong, the demon was quick to smooth over the boy’s fears.

“Don’t worry about it, luv. Make whatever you want to eat, and I’m sure that if the angel stops by he’ll take a bite to eat. And don’t feel the need to wake up and make breakfast every morning. You’re only feeding yourself, so you can eat whenever you want.” Harry looked at the demon and saw no malice or harm intended in his eyes. He took a minute to think about what was just said to him, and became curious at the mention of Gabriel not living there.

“Sir, er—” Crowley interrupted him.

 “Just call me Dad, unless you would prefer to call me by my name for now.” Harry opted to try getting used to calling his new father by the proper name.

“Umm, Dad, what you said about Gabriel, you’re saying that he doesn’t live here with you?”

“No, he does not. Something you should know, Harry, is that Gabriel is sort of hiding from his family. Very few know who he is under the disguise he has placed on himself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am saying that it may be best if you were to get used to calling him by a different name for when we’re out of the house. He actually has a few names. For starters, you obviously know him as Gabriel, but he is also known as the pagan god, Loki, and also as the Trickster. I have to admit that for an archangel, he does a pretty good job at being the Trickster.” Crowley briefly thought about the few deaths caused by the Trickster, and he would have been proud to actually claim the killings as his own since they were quite inventive.

“So you’re saying not to call him Gabriel?”

“Nah, I’m telling this the wrong way.” Crowley looked up at the ceiling before looking back at his soon to be son. “All I’m sayin’ is to be careful what you call him depending on what company we have. It would do him no good to be found out.”

“Then how did you find out who he was if he’s been so secretive about it?”

“That, my boy, is a story for another day. I do believe that you are probably very hungry, so I shall leave you be while you eat. Me on the other hand, I’ll be getting a room ready for the ritual that we’ll be doing today.” At Harry’s nod, Crowley walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway of doors where he disappeared behind one of them with a click of the door. Harry finished making up some food for himself, and ate silently at the small table in the center of the kitchen.

~*~*~*~*~*~

While Crowley was walking around the room getting various supplies together, Gabriel popped in and watched while the other worked. He cocked his head and tried to piece together all that the demon was drawing on the floor. The angel silently watched as he let the other get everything ready for the ritual. Crowley eventually had everything that needed to be drawn and together on a nearby table. He stood up from the floor and turned to face his friend.

“I know you just got here, angel, but I don’t think it would be wise if you were to stick around for the next events.” Gabriel gave him a questioning look as his head tilted to the side, and Crowley explained further, “Demon ritual that may not react well with your grace while you’re in the room. It could end up harming any one of us, or it may not. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, I see your point.”

“So why not come back in two hours or so? We’ll be all done in here by then.” Gabriel nodded in understanding before disappearing from sight. Crowley wiped his hands on a rag to get the chalk off and walked to the door to get Harry for the ritual.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Crowley led Harry into the room that he disappeared to earlier, and the boy was in awe at what he saw. It was a stone floor room that had several bookshelves lining the walls containing various bottles and books. There was a rather large table that stood at the farthest end away from the door. On the floor were several symbols that outlined two circles that came together to touch at one point, almost looking like an eight or infinity symbol depending on how you looked at it. Harry bent down closer to look at what was drawn. There was also a small circle that went around the point the two larger ovals connected together. He reached a hand out to touch the lines, but thought better of it when Crowley called over to him from the table that it was only chalk and would smear easily.

The demon looked over to the boy who appeared to be very interested in the work that he had done earlier in the day while the other was eating, and smiled. Here was a child that he was able to rescue, and who willingly chose to become the older man’s son. Still smiling, Crowley grabbed the wooden bowl that already had a few various ingredients in it, and called over to Harry to get his attention.

“Come over here for a moment so I can let you know what will be going on. As you can see, I already did the honors of setting everything up for this shindig, and now it only needs a few more things. As I am sure you have noticed, there are the two larger circles that have the smaller circle intersecting in both. You will be sitting in the one closest to the table here, and I shall be sitting in the other one. This bowl will be placed in the smaller circle between us. You with me so far?” At Harry’s nod, he continued. “I already mixed all that is needed here in this bowl except two things: your blood and my blood. What I will be doing then is taking this knife to make a small slit on the inside of both your hands, along with mine. We let the bowl fill with both our blood for a few minutes before I mix all the stuff in it together. With it, I will be drawing a sigil on both of your hands before drawing a line on your forehead, and placing a handprint of it on your chest over your heart – it’s easiest if we have our shirts removed. You’ll then need to do the same for me, and the sigil is simple to draw, so don’t fret over it. After that is done, we join hands together and I’ll be saying a few lines of Latin to finish it off. Sound good to you?” Harry nodded again. “Well then, let’s get started.”

Before they were able to continue, Harry had a quick question. “Will it change me at all?”

“Well, you know that it will make you half demon, though not in the typical way normal ones are. You won’t be a cambion. Half demons created through this ritual are very rare, since no demon ever wants to willingly be bonded with a human. From what I know, you’ll probably gain a few special powers from being part demon. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got one or two of mine since we’ll be bonded as family. And I’m sure your natural magic will help in making your powers, well, more powerful. Though we’ll just need to see and find out. And another quick thing, I wouldn’t be surprised if your outward appearance changed at all.”

With a grin, Crowley set the wooden bowl back down again and started to remove his suit jacket, tie, and dress shirt with Harry following the same actions. They both placed the removed clothes on the table and went to sit at their designated spots, Crowley of course bringing the bowl and knife along with. They sat down cross-legged before the bowl was placed in the circle that went through both of their chosen circles.

“Give me your left hand.” Harry held out his left hand where it was held in the warm grasp of Crowley’s grip as he went and cut a quick line across the palm. He was then instructed to keep it held over the bowl as his other palm was also cut. Crowley quickly did the same to his own hands, and the two of them stayed still for a few minutes as their blood slowly dripped down to be collected together in the bowl. After Crowley deemed there to be enough blood, he took his right hand and slowly mixed together what was there with his fingers, left hand holding the bowl in place. Harry held out his hands as he was instructed earlier, palms facing the ground, and waited as his soon to be father dipped his right pointer finger into the mix. He reached out and drew what looked to be an eight with a circle surrounding it on both of Harry’s hands. Crowley brought his hand back to the bowl where he got some more of the bloody mixture on his fingers to swipe across Harry’s forehead. Next, he placed the whole palm of his right hand into the mix, and brought it to the child’s chest where he placed a bloody handprint above his heart. Harry did the same to the man sitting across from him, and soon they both were joining hands as Crowley began reciting the words needed to finish the ritual to bind them together as father and son.

As soon as Crowley neared the end of the string of Latin words, a green light began to appear between their intertwined palms. Slowly it grew bigger and fluxed a bit before breaking off into lines that sluggishly swirled around them. They began to pick up their pace before it seemed like a green orb was surrounding them. Just as quick as it was to surround them, the light came to a halt and split into eight lines. Each of the lines went to where the blood was drawn on their bodies and was absorbed into the skin. The light between their palms died out, and the ritual was complete.

When Crowley released his grip on Harry’s hands, the boy suddenly fell over on the spot and did not move an inch. The new father rushed to his son’s side and felt for a beating heart or sign of life. He was relieved to find one, and his fears of the ritual being too much for the young wizard were instantly quelled, though he did already notice a few outward changes to the boy.

Crowley got up and went to the bathroom where he grabbed a washcloth before going to the kitchen where he grabbed another bowl before filling it with warm water. He made his way back to Harry where he soaked the washcloth in the water before bringing it to the child’s face and cleaning away the bloody mixture that had begun to drip down his cheeks. He then submerged the washcloth back into the pink water before bringing it to Harry’s chest and cleaning away his dripping handprint. Next was the sigils on his hands, and noticing the gradually oozing cuts on Harry’s palms, Crowley went and grabbed several more strips of cloth to use for the time being to stop the bleeding.

Satisfied that the boy was clean enough for now, Crowley set to work rubbing away the bloody lines and handprint on his own body before he was interrupted by a knock at the door. He stood up again and let the washcloth drop into the bowl of reddish water. He walked over to the door of the room and opened it to reveal the very person, er, angel that he wanted to see.

“Gabriel, nice of you to stop by!” Gabriel gave him a look before voicing his thought.

“Dude, you’re the one who told me to come back in a few hours – don’t act all surprised to see me. So how’d your demon thingy work out?”

“You tell me. Does he feel any different to your angel touch?” Crowley opened the door more to let the angel pass by and into the room where he saw Harry laying on the ground. Gabriel went to his side with concern and did a swipe of his hand over Harry’s body.

“He seemed fine with my quick check; he probably passed out from the changes that his body will continue to go through to accommodate the demon blood now in him.” Gabriel nodded at Crowley’s words and supplied some of his own.

“You’re right – he’s completely fine, but his body is definitely going through a few changes. I honestly would have been surprised if he didn’t pass out like he did. Other than that, it looks like his magic core is still mostly there.”

“What do you mean, mostly there?”

“Well, it looks like a small part of it changed. It was a bright white before when I had first looked at it last night, but now it looks like it is a few shades darker, and a few shades to the left of the color spectrum.”

“So you’re saying that it was white before, and now it’s a dark red color?”

“Jackpot. I wouldn’t worry too much about it – it’s probably the demon part of him taking advantage of the natural magic to make itself better or stronger. We’ll just have to find out and see once he’s all rested up and ready for some tests.” Gabriel said. Crowley looked at him with a “what are you talking about” face and an exasperated sigh.

“Tests? You make it sound like he’s a lab rat or something to be prodded with sticks.” Gabriel gave a short laugh before he was silenced by the demon’s glare. He then held his hands up in defeat.

“Whatever.” Crowley looked at Gabriel with a certain look of curiosity and stepped closer to him.

“What’s got you so uptight in a bunch?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing.” The archangel waved a hand is dismissal.

“Oh come on, just tell me and get it over with.” Crowley impatiently looked at Gabriel as he knelt down next to his new son. The angel looked contemplative as he decided whether or not to tell the other what was on his mind. At another look by the demon, Gabriel gave up.

“Fine. Tweedledee and Tweedledum found out that I’m Gabriel today…” He trailed off with a pouty look on his face that only made the demon crack a smile and a laugh to accompany it.

“I told you it was only a matter of time before they found out – especially since they have one of your brothers with them.” Gabriel looked at Crowley. “What? It’s only a matter of time before they come poking around my place for the colt. Of course I’ve been keeping an eye on them. I plan to move to one of my other houses soon, maybe the one in California, though I am sure you will not like it since I have it angel proofed. I figure it’s safest that way while teaching Harry what I can.” A nod came from the other man in the room.

“I see your point and you have valid reasons to back it up, I just don’t like it. Promise me that you’ll either leave a room free of the symbols, or you’ll move back to this place after you’re done playing teacher. I want to teach the kid some tricks of my own.” Crowley only rolled his eyes in response because a movement from the ground caught the attention of both of the guys in the room. The new father instantly turned his full attention onto Harry, as did Gabriel from a small distance away as to make sure that the boy did not feel too crowded while he was waking up and becoming alert to the world.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry moved to sit up, not needing any help from Crowley, and looked around the room to regain his bearings. He shook his head and dug the palms of his hands over his eyes and groaned. Crowley smirked as he looked at his new son.

“Looks like it was a lot harsher on you than it was on me.” Harry dropped his hands, looked over to the demon that spoke, and raised an eyebrow. He brought a hand to wipe at his forehead, but stopped when he saw the back of his hand. While the blood was all cleaned away, there was a faint mark where the sigils were drawn. It was not all that noticeable at a first glance, but there was a definite darker skin tone that showed the circle with an infinity symbol inside. Harry looked at his other hand, and sure enough it was there too. Ignoring the curious glances of the two other people in the room, Harry stood up from where he was sitting and walked out to go to the mirror in the bathroom.

Once there, he looked and saw the very faint handprint over his heart. Thankfully on his part, there was no marking on his forehead, but the scar that had previously been noticeable was now only a faint line that could easily be ignored or covered up by the bangs that easily fell over it. Looking past the new markings from where the blood was previously, Harry noticed that his hair seemed to not be as messy as before and did not stand all over the place. It was somehow straighter and sleeker, and somehow even darker. He tilted his head and looked at the rest of his body and face as Gabriel and Crowley joined him by standing at the door – both looking on with interest of their own to see what small changes the boy went through.

Gabriel of course was able to notice the definite difference in the child’s magical core – which is what he told Crowley minutes before – but he did not voice his opinion of the new darkness he could feel in Harry. It was only to be expected after all because of his new status as a half demon. Gabriel internally had a sigh of relief as he mentally scanned the boy and did not find any of the major deadly powers that cambions, the half-human offspring of a demon, have. So Crowley had been correct in what he had been told. Sure the boy would have some demon powers because of how he now had some of Crowley’s blood in his own system, but since it was through a ritual it only made sense that he was not a true cambion.

A gasp came from Harry as his gaze swept past his same as before looking face to rest on his eyes. They were also the same as before except for one tiny little detail: they were darker. His eyes that were a bright emerald green before were now a dark forest green. Harry leaned in closer to the mirror to get a closer look at them. And not only were his eyes a darker color, but he was able to see clearly without the aid of glasses. Crowley smiled as he watched his new son with a thought. _Finally a son I can be proud of to call my own._

Already having gone through figuring out any changes in his body, which there were very minimal that he found – but still enough to make him look different, Harry looked over to his new, smiling family with a question in mind.

“In the other room you said that it was harsher on me than you – what do you mean by that?”

“Well, I did not pass out or undergo any changes like you did, except for the faint markings on my hands and chest like yours that will eventually fade away in time. I suspect that the changes were made to you through the combination of your natural magic and the magic gained from now being part demon – both seemed to work together to make a few small changes to truly make you my son not only by blood, but also by appearance. Like I said before, I reckon that you will also begin to develop traits that are more demonic in nature, but nothing that you should worry about. I also wouldn’t be surprised if you find doing magic a lot easier and natural now. If my theory is correct, I am pretty sure that you will not need a wand like most natural magic users need.”

“Why is that?”

“Because we demons don’t need a wand or anything to channel our power, and since you now are part demon, that will also apply to you. Or at least it should if my thought process is true.” Harry nodded as he processed what was being told to him.

“So then do you know what I will be able to do now?” Harry asked. Already stepping into the role of a father, Crowley answered with a typical parental concern.

“We will find out after you eat. After all, you are still partially human and I’m sure the ritual took a lot out of you.” Harry agreed and Gabriel and Crowley stepped out of his way so he could go to the kitchen and get some food in his system.

“As much fun as this is right now, everything seems to be going good, and I am needed elsewhere for this thing. So spend some bonding time with your new son and get to know him more. Just make sure to let me know how it all goes later if I miss out on the good parts of what he can do, alright?” Gabriel told Crowley who gave a nod and eye roll in response. The angel quickly went over to the kitchen to say his goodbyes for now to Harry before disappearing from sight.

Crowley walked over to the kitchen to see Harry making himself a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Out of habit Harry asked the other if he would like one, but Crowley smiled and declined the offer – opting for a glass of Craig instead, and deciding to pour his son a glass of milk on impulse. The glass of milk went from one set of hands to the other, and Harry smiled at the thoughtfulness of the gesture. It was something that no one had done for him before, so the simple and thoughtless act of someone else getting a glass of milk for him opened up a door of emotions in his heart. A small thank-you passed Harry’s lips, and while Crowley was aware of how big this was for his son, the other was not making a big deal of it, so he didn’t either. He only gave the boy a nod as a way of saying ‘you’re welcome.’

Harry brought his sandwich and glass of milk over to the table where he was quickly joined by his new father who held his own beverage. The two sat in a comfortable silence as Harry ate his food and Crowley nursed his Craig. The demon looked over and noticed a thoughtful look on Harry’s face. He tilted his head and asked,

“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” Harry glanced up, swallowed the bite he was chewing, and answered.

“Nothing much – just thinking about how nice it is to be able to eat a whole sandwich with a full glass of milk for once. Thank you again for all that you are doing for me, sir, er, Crowley. I know you don’t have to, but it’s really appreciated.” The eight year old kept his eyes down to his plate and seemingly went back to the shyness he held when they were first talking the night before. Crowley had to suppress the anger he felt towards the Dursleys because of how grateful Harry was for a simple snack that any child should be able to have. But it appeared that the child before him had never been able to have it before, and it broke Crowley’s heart.

“Harry, luv, you know that you don’t have to call me sir, but if you’re still uncomfortable with calling me dad or father, Crowley is just fine with me. As a matter of fact, call me what you wish, as long as it’s not sir or anything too obnoxious.” A small hand covered Harry’s mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter, and Crowley felt warm on the inside with the knowledge that he was able to make his son laugh; something that probably has not happened in a long time. A few more minutes passed as Harry finished half of the sandwich and took another sip from his glass of milk before he asked a question that Crowley was not quite sure how to answer.

“So what exactly do you do as your job?” Dark, questioning eyes met his own and Crowley thought best how to answer. He was about to give a heavily censored version of what being the King of the Crossroads meant, but decided against it since he felt that the truth was better than a sugar coating. Plus, Harry would find out eventually about all that he does.

“I told you before that I am the King of the Crossroads, right?” At Harry’s nod, he continued. “Well, crossroad demons make deals with people who come to us for help. They do what they must to call our attention at a crossroads, we work out a deal depending on what they want from us, and we seal the deal with a kiss. As payment for the deal, they give us their soul after a certain amount of years. Most of the time we give them ten years before we go and send the hounds after them to drag their soul to Hell. But the time period is different in a few special cases. As King of the Crossroads, I control the crossroad demons, so think of me as their boss.” He finished up his brief description of his job and waited for Harry’s response. All he got was a laugh that slowly grew in intensity. At Crowley’s puzzled look, for that was not the reaction that he was expecting, Harry gave in and told him what was so funny.

“So you mean that even if an old, wrinkly guy wants to make a deal, you still have to snog him?” Harry fell into another bout of laughter before continuing. “Anyone who makes a deal with you has to snog you? I can only imagine the looks on some of their faces when you tell them that.” Crowley joined in with some chuckles of his own, recalling a few instances in the last few months where there were a few people who were repulsed at the idea of kissing him. Most of them eventually sucked it up and got over their homophobia for the few seconds needed, but he was sure that none of them gave any thought to his feelings at seeing who comes to the crossroads to make a deal. Not all of them are beautiful females in their 20s after all.

“I tell you that I damn people to Hell, and all you focus on is the fact that anyone who makes a deal with me has to also snog me?” He shook his head as he swirled the last little bit of beverage remaining in his glass before downing it all in one small swallow. Harry sheepishly grinned at him as he also finished the last of his food and beverage. He took Crowley’s empty glass along with his own glass and plate over to the kitchen where he placed them in the sink for the time being. Harry walked back to where Crowley was still sitting at the table and stood beside him with a bounce in his step. It seemed that the small talk that they had while at the table did him good in becoming more comfortable with the older man.

“Can we now see what I can do? Please?”

“You’re excited about this, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am! It’s not every day that you learn that you can do magic!”

Crowley stood up and motioned for Harry to join him in walking back to the room where they performed the ritual earlier in the day. Crowley shut the door as he turned back around to look at Harry.

“Alright, let’s see what you can do.”

“What are we going to start with?” Harry questioned with an eager look in his eyes.

“Well, there are some that we will need to figure out later, and a few that you may never figure out.”

“Like what?”

“For starters, things like seeing reapers may be something that you may never find out unless you actually cross paths with a reaper – though my guess is that you can see them because of the demon blood in you. Same goes for some of the other things all demons can do. For example, I’d bet that you are now stronger than the average person and have much more endurance than them also. Common things like those I am fully certain that you have. But now comes the tricky part. Because you are only half demon, I’m sure that while you are not injured as easily, the rate at which you heal is probably slower than the average demon, though still faster than a human.” Harry nodded while soaking in all of this information. It all seemed to make pretty clear sense so far. At Harry’s motion to continue, Crowley carried on in his talking.

“So the next thing I want to bring up is being able to teleport to different places. From my thoughts I’m thinking that you may have an easier time learning how to do so and may be able to travel longer distances in time because of how natural born magic users are able to do so also, just not as far as some demons can. My thoughts are that while it will be easier, you’ll also be able to go further distances because of the combination of natural magic and demon magic. Though I would not recommend trying to travel a long distance on your first try. Maybe just try going from one side of the room to the other.” Again, Harry nodded and shut his eyes in concentration. After a minute or so of deep concentration on his face, Harry opened his eyes and looked around him before looking at Crowley.

“I didn’t move.” At Harry’s crestfallen look, Crowley beckoned him to stand by his side – he had an idea.

“How about we try a different approach. I’ll hold onto you and teleport from where we are to the other side of the room. Your job is to try and sense what I’m doing and what it feels like to do this.” Crowley wrapped his arms around his son and they were instantly at the other side of the room. Harry only stared into space as his only words were,

“That was fast.” Crowley looked down at the mop of black hair and smiled.

“Did you get an idea of what I just did, or do you want me to do it again?” Harry’s small face turned upwards as he locked his eyes onto his father’s.

“Do it again.” With a nod in answer, they were back at the other side of the room in an instant.

“Again?” Asked Crowley, but Harry shook his head.

“I think I may have it…” He stepped away from the larger man and shut his eyes in concentration. Harry also licked his lips and clenched his jaw in hopes that it would work this time for him. A few seconds later, he popped out of sight and reappeared instantaneously a few feet from where he was originally standing. He heard clapping, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his dad with a big smile on his face. Harry looked around again and noticed that the wall was closer than it was when he closed his eyes.

“Did I do it?” Though he already knew the answer, he wanted it confirmed.

“Yes, you did. Though it wasn’t across the room, you just successfully teleported a few feet by yourself with no help at all. That’s progress.” A grin broke out on Harry’s face as he closed his eyes again. Suddenly he was right where he started – a few feet to his left.

“I’m sure that with practice, you’ll soon be able to go distances a lot further than you can now. Now let’s try something else, though we are going to start small. Sit down and I’ll be right back with you in just a moment – I just need to get something.” Crowley disappeared from sight and returned with a candle in his hand just as Harry sat down.

“What you’re going to try is based on a hunch, so don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t quite work out for you.”

“What’s your hunch?”

“Well, I was thinking that since you became my son by the blood ritual, maybe you have some of the talents that I have that other demons don’t. You know, like how certain traits are passed down through families, maybe the same thing happened to you.” Crowley joined Harry sitting on the ground sort of like how they were for the ritual – they were sitting across from each other with the candle between them. Harry gazed at it curiously. Before he was able to ask any questions, Crowley supplied the answers that he was looking for.

“One of the things that I can do is called pyrokinesis. What this power allows me to do, in simple terms, is to create fire. Watch.” With a motion of his right hand, the candle was suddenly lit with a warm flame burning on the wick. Harry’s mouth dropped open in an ‘o’ shape, and with another wave from Crowley, the fire was out, leaving a smoking candle.

“Of course I can set fire to things much larger than what I just did, but just like with teleporting, let’s start small, shall we?” With Crowley’s gesture towards the still smoking candle, Harry began to concentrate at lighting the wick. The older demon thought that he started to see the wick grow a bright orange color before it went out again. Harry gasped for a breath before he looked over to his father with a pained look on his face.

“I can’t do it. I can’t create fire like you.” An intense look came across Crowley’s face as he looked right back into Harry’s eyes.

“Yes you can. You just have to believe in yourself. Right before you let up on your concentration, I started to see the candle wick begin to smolder a bit. Just like with teleportation, it will take time. But I know what I saw, and you have the talent. I wouldn’t lie to you, Harry. I have no reason to lie to my own son. So stop making yourself depressed, and get over it. You can already do more than you were able to do yesterday…” Before he was able to continue, the presence of another in the house made Crowley stop his pep talk of sorts. Just as Crowley began to stand up, a sandy haired man walked in with a large bowl in his arms. He walked over and sat it right down beside the candle before sitting down with the other two.

“Gabriel, what the hell are you doing with this giant bowl of candy? And why are you setting it down here in my house?” Harry giggled at Crowley’s outraged face and at the angel’s innocent look.

“What? June is National Candy Month. You’re telling me that I can’t celebrate it with my favorite friends?” was Gabriel’s shocked explanation as he grabbed a chocolate bar out of the green bowl he brought. Crowley gave his angel friend a ‘what the fuck are you doing’ face to which Gabriel only gave a smile in return.

“Help yourself, Harry, I brought these here for you – and me while I’m here.” He added the last bit in as an afterthought as he munched on the chocolate bar in his hand.

“He’s still part human, moron. Too much candy at once isn’t good for him.” The demon slid the bowl away from the other two sitting beside him, but he gave in when he saw the look on Harry’s face.

“Alright, you can have a piece. The rest will be for later.” After Harry had chosen a piece for himself, Crowley disappeared with the bowl before Gabriel was able to take any more. He returned to find Gabriel with his arms crossed and a pouting face. Shaking his head, Crowley aimed his next statement at the childish archangel in front of him.

“Suck it up, angel. Things like this make me wonder why we’re even friends in the first place. I ought to put up Enochian symbols around this house to keep you out.”

“Oh, come on, you’ve threatened me with that before. Yet here I am because you’ve never had the heart to do so. That makes me think that it is just an empty threat like all the times before.” Gabriel smiled cheekily at the King of the Crossroads. The demon only turned to his son to ask a question.

“So, Harry, how do you feel about learning Enochian warding magic?” Harry only laughed at the glare Gabriel was giving his adoptive father before replying with a “maybe some other time.” His response only furthered to help the angel dig himself into a deeper hole in Crowley’s eyes.

“See, the kid’s on my side. That means no warding this hou…” He was cut off by Crowley flicking his wrist causing him to be thrown across the room where he collided with the wall. The demon had a smirk on his face.

“Now, what was it you were saying, Gabe?”


	6. Chapter 6

It was now a few weeks since Harry began learning how to use his new powers. He and Crowley already had a discussion about how he would learn all about using his demon powers, but he would need an actual wizard or witch who was a natural magic user to teach him how to use the other half of his powers. They both figured that he would just concentrate on his demon powers for now, and would worry about learning how to use his natural magic at a later time. By now Harry was now able to teleport about half the length of a football field, was able to light the fire in the fireplace after concentrating for a few minutes, and was even overjoyed to find out that he was able to use telekinesis to move small objects across the table. Crowley had told him that in time he was sure that he would also be able to destroy objects with telekinesis, like he could, because of their bond – just like how Harry was able to use pyrokinesis.

It was a day in late July when Harry began to notice something different. Looking back, he thought that it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise since what he was able to do was something he had done on accident a few months ago when he was still with the Dursleys.

_If I can already do some special stuff just with my demon powers, what if I tried to use my natural magic the same way…_

With that line of thought, Harry held out his right hand and started to concentrate. Two things happened at once – one was what he hoped to happen, and the other was totally unexpected. In front of him was the form of a large gray wolf. The unexpected part was that the sigil still faintly seen on his right hand was giving off a soft, red glow, and the rest of his hand had a very faint trace of the same red color. He recalled the time back with the Dursleys when he wished that he had more bandages that he could use for a particularly nasty gash on his side, and they suddenly appeared by his side. But there was no glowing red anywhere when that happened.

_Maybe it’s the demon magic melding itself together with my natural magic to become one? Maybe they’re working together? Maybe I should talk to Dad about this…_

While he was thinking to himself, Harry worked on controlling the gray wolf to walk around the room, jump, and sit down. He had the animal come to stand by his side, and he ran his hand through the thick fur.

_It feels so real._

With another thought, the wolf vanished in a cloud of black smoke and red sparks. Harry tilted his head as he concentrated once again, and then there was a simple blue blanket that landed in a pile at his feet. Again, with the appearance of the new object, the hand he held out had a weak glowing sigil just like how it had when he made the wolf figure appear, though it wasn’t all that noticeable from a distance. With a smile on his face and gasping for breath, he let the blanket disappear in a black cloud and red sparks. He wiped away the few sweat trails that formed on his face with just the small bit of magic he did, and turned to go find his dad.

Running through the halls of the new house they were in, one that had the Enochian warding magic around the perimeter, Harry had his mind set on finding Crowley to show him what he could do. After going through a few rooms, Harry was about to burst through the closed doors of his dad’s meeting room, but thought better of it. So far the only ones who knew of Harry were Gabriel and Crowley, and they wanted to keep it that way at least for a little bit longer until they could be sure he could take care of himself and was powerful enough to at least escape if someone tried to capture him.

Harry quietly stepped closer to the closed doors and placed an ear against the wood. He could hear unfamiliar voices on the inside before muffled footsteps were heard getting closer to the door. His eyes went wide as he heard the door knob slowly turn, and in a matter of seconds Harry had teleported to the small balcony at the top of the stairs closest to the meeting room. Peeking around the corner just so he could see who was coming out, the mischievous child saw a few well-dressed demons walk out of the room with Crowley just behind him. He saw them shake hands together before the four demons disappeared, leaving Crowley standing there alone. Sneaking out of his hiding spot, Harry walked down the stairs to ask his father what was going on. After finishing off his glass of Craig, and setting down the empty glass, Crowley turned to answer his son.

“Those low life demons were just here to do a little job for me. Nothing you need to worry about right now. I’m just expecting company sometime soon, and I need them as distractions.”

“So by distractions, you expect that they’ll be killed so you can meet your goal?”

“Exactly.”

“So who are you expecting to visit us?” Crowley placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder and answered.

“Just two idiotic hunters – I have something they want. They just don’t know it yet. But I suspect that with how much I’m letting the word get out, they’ll be here soon enough. Enough of this boring conversation, what have you been up to today?” With being reminded of what his previous task was, Harry grew excited and pulled his dad back into the meeting room.

“Watch what I can do!” Harry stepped a few feet away from Crowley and raised his right hand. His face went to one of deep concentration as his hand began to give off a faint glow. Crowley’s own face turned to one of question and curiosity as the air before him started to shimmer and change. After a few seconds, the same gray wolf as before was standing between Harry and Crowley.

“See, I can make things appear! Not only that, but I can control them too!” Harry gleefully said as he had the wolf walk up to Crowley where he stood with his head at about chest level of the demon. He slowly raised his hand to pat the wolf’s head before looking over at Harry’s proud face. The wolf then nudged against Crowley’s side before padding over to where Harry was and sitting down.

“If you’re fond of that animal, shape, thing, wanna see what he can do? And why not give him a name while you’re at it. It’ll make it easier to have a name for it rather than calling it ‘it’ all the time.” Harry nodded in answer at the question and grew thoughtful at what name he should give the wolf – he was rather fond of the form and it did not seem right to not name him. Crowley and Harry walked through the house to the basement where they kept various objects for Harry to train with. As they walked, wolf following behind, Harry thought of a name. They walked through the door into the dark room, and Harry figured out what to name the form.

“Lasair – that will be his name.”

“You couldn’t have thought of a simpler name?” At the glare he got from his son, he brought his hands up in defense and said, “Alright, it was your choice anyways. Lasair sounds like a fantastic name.” Crowley walked over to the table towards the far end of the room, after turning the lights on, and put on a pair of gloves. Now protected, he picked up an iron bar from the box beside the table. Once Crowley was ready, Harry sent Lasair running towards his dad. Just as the wolf jumped to attack, Crowley swung the iron bar in defense, and there was a puff of black smoke and sparks.

“Well, it’s safe to say that iron works against these creations of yours. I bet that rock salt and holy water will too. Want to try those theories out?”

“Sure, why not?” Harry concentrated once again with sweat starting to form on his face, and Lasair appeared in the center of the room. Crowley threw the iron bar back into the chest before disappearing and reappearing with a bottle of holy water in one hand, and a container of salt in the other. He set the bottle down on the table and turned to make a line with the salt.

“Try having him cross over the salt line.” Harry did just that, and as expected, the wolf was not able to cross it. Crowley reached over to grab the holy water, unscrewed the cap, and splashed some towards the wolf. The fur and skin sizzled where the few droplets hit, and more of the water was tossed at Lasair. When the rest hit him, there was a whine as he disappeared in the same manner as before.

“That answers those questions…” Crowley observed the state that Harry was in, and he was surprised to see his son only sweating a little from all the effort. Careful not to step in any of the water on the ground, the demon made his way over to Harry.

“You feel good? No lightheadedness or headache?”

“None, I feel fine besides the little bit of sweat,” Harry answered. The two made their way side by side to the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Crowley went back to the house in Michigan a few days later, much to a certain archangel’s delight. The two demons weren’t even there for a minute when Harry suddenly felt arms wrap around him from the back.

“I’m glad you decided to leave that awful house for a bit to come back here – I missed you two!”

“Gabriel, that house is not awful. It is currently the safest place for Harry to be learning magic right now.”

“Then why are you back here now?” A candy was popped into his mouth.

“We’re back here for a bit because Harry here was beginning to miss you and wanted to see you – unlike me. I could go years without seeing your face and I’d be happy.” Gabriel put on a wounded face look with hurt in his eyes as he looked at Crowley.

“Fine, I see how it is. I didn’t want to talk with you either.” He stuck out his tongue at the demon before he turned his attention on the kid beside him. “So what have you been up to?” Harry grinned as he had Lasair appear behind Gabriel. He had gotten to the point where there was only a barely there glow where the sigil was on his hand when he made things appear.

“Turn around.” Mischief filled his voice, which caused the angel to raise an eyebrow and cautiously turn around. He was suddenly knocked to the ground with the gray wolf licking at his face. Gabriel pushed the wolf off him and turned to Harry who was grinning like a maniac.

“I can make him and other things appear! I can also control them to do what I want, though I can only have one thing or animal in creation at a time so far.” He finished his sentence and had the wolf go away in his usual way of smoke and sparks. Gabriel eyed the spot where the wolf was just a second ago and twisted to stare at Harry.

“That was awesome. You know, with powers like that, you could easily mess with some people’s minds. I mean, that wolf you created was HUGE. Just think of how people would react to find that baby going after them in the woods. Hell, maybe even kill one or two bastards who deserve it. I’m sure your dad over there would encourage those life choices. Hey, Crowley, what do you think? Can I take the kid out to see what he can do?” Both Gabriel and Harry (clearly all for the plan) gave the demon a puppy dog look that Crowley could not refuse. After thinking about it for a few moments, Crowley finally answered.

“Alright, but only if Harry agrees and you promise to keep him safe. And I mean it, angel. If he gets hurt, you’ll wish you never asked in the first place.” Harry and Gabriel high-fived and went off to the living room to plan out what they were going to do, leaving Crowley to his own thoughts and a smile.

_They grow up so quick: one day you’re teaching them how to teleport, the next they’re planning their first kill. That’s my boy._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two young men walked out of the park office at the Sleeping Bear Dunes located in the northwestern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. They both walked over to the black ’67 Chevy Impala that was parked nearby and leaned against the trunk area to talk. One opened his mouth to say something, but instead closed his mouth, still trying to think. The two shared equal looks of confusion as they tried to piece together what they were told so they could figure out what was killing people out on the dunes.

“I’ve got nothing. You think of anything, Sammy?” In response, Sam only shrugged his shoulders.

“I dunno, Dean. I mean, it sounds like it is only a bear attack that killed those guys, but that makes no sense. I could understand one person being killed as a legit bear attack, but seven? And all of them in the span of a few days? There has got to be something going on here, but I have no idea what it could be. It’s certainly not something we’ve dealt with. Did you call Bobby yet?”

“Yeah, I’ll call him when we get a place to sleep and once I have some food in my system.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two sets of eyes looked on to see the Winchester brothers standing by their car.

“Congrats, kiddo, your work got the attention of two of the best hunters out there.”

“Gabe, we weren’t really subtle about it. With seven killed in a National Park, it’s sure to warrant major attention.”

“You mean _you_ weren’t all that subtle with it. I’m just here as a chaperone. To make sure you don’t go and get yourself killed. Now how about we head back home for the night and come back tomorrow or something, sound good to you?”

“Sure, sounds good to me.” The angel placed a hand on Harry’s arm and the two instantly disappeared.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Hey, Dean, check this out. I looked to see what all the killed guys had in common, and they all have a record of some sort. These two guys were sent to jail for theft, these three were sexual abusers, one was a convicted murderer, and the seventh was a child molester.” Dean sat up from where he was laid out on the bed with a confused look on his face.

“So what, they were all bad guys. Now they’re all dead bad guys? That doesn’t make any sense. Since when does something we hunt actually go after only the creeps?” Sam looked over from the desk he was sitting at and shrugged.

“As much as I approve of what this creature is doing, it still is killing people. Who knows, maybe one day it will go and start killing innocents. You called Bobby yet?” Sam asked his brother.

“Yeah, I talked with him, and he’s just as confused as us. But he said that he’ll look into it and call me back if he finds anything.” Dean let his head drop back down onto the pillow and he thought about their current case. After a few seconds of being still, he abruptly got up from the bed, grabbed his jacket and car keys, and turned to Sam’s questioning look.

“You continue researching; I’m gonna go take a look at the bodies to see if I can find anything that may be of use to us.” He walked out the door and let it slam shut, leaving Sam by himself with his laptop.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The following night found Sam and Dean walking along the sandy shore of Lake Michigan with flashlights in one hand, guns with rock salt in the other.

“Man, I have sand in places it should never be. How the hell did it get in there anyways?” Dean adjusted his jeans as he tried to figure out the puzzle of the sand. Sam only laughed in response as they continued walking towards the famed dunes that are approximately one hundred feet tall.

“You seriously think that whatever is killing these people is out here on the sand dunes? Personally, I think that we should check out the forest over there,” Dean motioned to the line of trees in the distance, “cause if it is a creature of some sort, it will probably be in there rather than out in the open.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. So they never told you an exact answer as to where they found the bodies?”

“No, crazy right? All I got was that they were killed out here somewhere.”

“Huh.” Sam was deep in thought as a yell for help was heard in the distance. He and Dean looked at each other for a split second before they took off running in the direction they heard the yell. They both were having a difficult time running effectively through the sand, so once they reached more solid ground, they both were very thankful.

The scene that they come across is shocking to them both. It was a large black bear standing over a man with gashes already in his sides and his head tilted at an angle that clearly showed a broken neck. The black bear moved to the side, and the Winchesters saw a small boy standing off to the side. He looked like he was a deer caught in the headlight as he stared at Sam and Dean. Of course the brothers assumed that he looked shocked because of the bear, but they did not know that it was because of their quick presence that made him quickly turn around and run.

Both Dean and Sam shot at the black bear who then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and red sparks that made them think that they may have killed it. They tried running after the kid, but they had no luck in finding him.

“You think there’s any chance that the kid was behind it all?” Dean asked Sam.

“Nah, he looked too frightened to be capable of killing anyone. Besides, you honestly think a kid could do something like what we saw back there?”

“I dunno. We’ve seen weirder things, so maybe? I say we stick around for a few more days to see if there’re any more killings. If not, then I think we killed the sucker magical bear that was responsible for the deaths.” Sam laughed after he spent a few seconds thinking about what Dean had said. Dean shot him a questioning glance.

“It’s just that these are the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and we just killed a black bear that was killing people. You think there’s any chance that the bear we shot was one from the legend? Cause with the black smoke and red flashes, it’s something we haven’t seen before when we’ve shot any other monster. Maybe it was a ghost of the Mother Bear killing off all of those bad people?” Dean stopped walking in favor of giving his brother a weird look.

“What? It’s possible. Like you said, we’ve seen weirder things.” Sam gave Dean a face and they continued walking to the Impala.


	7. Chapter 7

Gabriel and Harry were sitting next to each other on a grassy hill that was in the general area of the house in Michigan. It was a sort of natural awkward silence between them as they tried to figure out what to do.

“Obviously we can’t tell your dad that the Winchesters saw you – even if they don’t know who you are. And let’s keep it that way. Honestly, I don’t know or want to know what he would do to me if he found out that they almost found out about you. He would blame it all on me…” Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced over at Harry with a nervous look on his face.

“Don’t worry, Gabe, I won’t tell him,” Harry replied with a snicker.

“I’m serious, Harry, we just act natural when we go back. We pretend that nothing happened; we tell him that it all is good – actually, we don’t even need to bring it up. Unless he brings it up first, but we’ll be good and just say that everything was good…”

“Gabe.”

“What?”

“You’re rambling. You don’t need to worry; I’m not going to say anything about it.” Harry patted the angel’s shoulder and stood up. Gabriel gave a sort of nod, almost like he was reassuring himself, and stood up as well.

“Ready to go back?” Harry nodded in response, and together they disappeared from sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a few days after Harry and Gabriel left the Sleeping Bear Dunes when Harry woke up to a seemingly normal day. To him, he would have been just fine not doing anything special that day, but Crowley, and especially Gabriel, would have nothing of that. So when Harry walked into the living room, he was immediately enshrouded in a cloud of confetti courtesy of the playful archangel. The very same angel then snapped his fingers, and a party hat was sitting on top of Harry’s head.

“Happy birthday, Harry!” Gabriel shouted as he let loose a barrage of balloons that were a variety of vibrant colors. Harry was just standing still in the doorway with a shocked look on his face. A voice came from behind him, causing Harry to spin around to face the one who just spoke.

“Happy birthday, luv.” Crowley pulled Harry into a hug. Of course the Trickster had to add himself to the bonding moment by butting in between the two with an arm wrapped across each of their shoulders bringing them into a hug of his own. Harry pulled himself out of the half hug and turned to face the two adults.

“How did you know that today’s my birthday?”

“I learned a few things while I was with the Dursleys.” Harry’s gaze snapped to Crowley at what he said.

“When did you visit them?”

“After we talked the first day I brought you here and after you told me that they could rot in Hell. So, I paid them a visit and took the time to learn a few things.” Crowley said with a smile.

“Knowing you, you did more than just visit them. Tell me, what did you do?” Crowley gave him an innocent look.

“I only let Growly stretch his legs a little bit after I finished talking with them. It’s not my fault that they did not want to cooperate with me. Speaking of hell hounds, how would you like one of your very own?” Crowley directed the conversation to a different topic, and Harry seemed overjoyed at the new subject.

“You mean it? I can have my own hell hound?!” Harry was obviously very excited at the prospect of having one of his own, and Crowley held up a finger to let him know that he would be back momentarily. A few seconds later he was back with a small puppy in his arms that was licking at the demon’s face. The black dog even had a red bow tied around its neck. Harry’s face lit up with delight as he held out his hands for Crowley to hand the hell hound over. He did so, and as soon as the pup was in Harry’s arms, she began to lick at her new master’s face much to Harry’s glee. Gabriel and Crowley stood back to watch the boy laugh and cuddle with his new pet.

“Hard to believe that he was killing just a few days ago.” Gabriel mentioned quietly to his friend.

“Yeah, he’s a demon now, well half demon, but he still is a young child. What do you expect? I figure this way even if we’re not around to keep him safe, he has someone who will remain loyal to protect him.” Gabriel nodded in agreement.

“Always thinking ahead, aren’t you?” Crowley only smiled at the angel before going to ask Harry what he wanted to do today. Gabriel looked on at the father and son until he realized that he had not given his own present to the boy yet. He disappeared and reappeared in a flutter of wings that caught Harry’s attention. At Gabriel’s side were now a few rather large boxes that were neatly wrapped.

“You didn’t think that I forgot about your birthday, now did you?” The angel joked as he waved his hands over the presents. Harry let the currently nameless hell hound jump from his arms to the ground as his eyes lit up at the sight of the brightly colored boxes. He hugged Gabriel briefly in thanks before grabbing the nearest one and ripping the paper off of it. What was revealed was a box full of chocolates. In the background Crowley could be seen putting a hand over his eyes as he shook his head back in forth. Harry’s grin grew as he opened the next few presents to find more boxes of several types of candy.

“I figure that you haven’t had much candy before, so here is a wide variety that you can try so you know what you like and dislike! And let me know if you don’t like any particular ones – I’ll just take them off your hands so you don’t need to worry about them anymore.” That caused Harry to laugh and to give Gabriel another hug.

“Thank you so much, both of you. I never really had a birthday before, so this is really special to me. Thank you.” And with that, Harry pulled both Crowley and Gabriel close in another hug before his new hell hound puppy was scratching at his legs begging for attention.

“Alright, alright, girl. And I still need to give you a name. How does Cara sound to you?” Harry picked her up again and was rubbing her belly as Cara gave what seemed to be a bark of approval.

“Aww, they’re adorable!” Gabriel once again commented to Crowley, and the demon agreed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A few hours had passed and Harry had spent them outside in the grass playing with Cara. It was during this time when Crowley was told by one of the demons from before that the two Winchester brothers had found out that he had the Colt and were on their way to his house. Gabriel had made sure to block himself, Harry, and Cara from being sensed by the demon who came to talk with the King of the Crossroads. When the demon left, Crowley opened his mouth to ask Gabriel a question, but he was cut off.

“Let me guess: you don’t want Harry around here when the two clowns come poking around. Don’t worry, I’ll take him to some wonder of the world or something – I’m sure he’ll love it.” Crowley gave a rare, genuine smile to his friend.

“Thank you, Gabriel. And I mean it.” He gave the angel a quick pat on the arm before walking out to the yard to let his son know about the trip he was going on with Gabriel that day. Harry bounded inside, Cara already loyal to her master by following a few steps behind, to see his friend. He was clearly eager to get the chance to go someplace he had never been before.

“What is some place that you have always wanted to go see?” Harry thought about it for a few moments before answering.

“A waterfall! I’ve only ever read about them, and the pictures of them look really cool.” A grin spread across Gabriel’s face as he placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“I know just the waterfall that you’ll love. Bye, Crowley!”

“Bye, Dad! Take care of Cara while we’re gone, please?” They both said their goodbyes, and with a nod from Crowley, they were gone leaving the demon and hell hound behind. The demon let himself relax for a minute before he left Cara in the care of his own hell hound, Growly. He then left to go make a deal with an important businessman at the crossroads before teleporting himself to his home with the Enochian warding magic. Now all he had to do was wait for the Winchesters to show up.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The two instantly appeared at the edge of what appeared to be a very large drop. The roaring of the water was deafening, and a look of childish delight was plastered on Harry’s face. He leaned over and yelled into Gabriel’s ear.

“Where are we?”

“We’re at the top of Angel Falls in Venezuela. Beautiful around here, isn’t it?” Harry nodded in agreement; the irony of where they were was not lost on him. Gabriel was currently making sure that they were invisible to the tourists down below who may have caught a glimpse of them through binoculars or something similar had they not been invisible.

Harry turned to look around at the forest surrounding where they were, and he decided to go look in the trees to see what he could find. Gabriel turned just in time to see Harry disappear behind some of the foliage that grew in the area. He followed the half demon to see what he was up to, and made sure that any footprints or broken plants were gone or mended so there were no traces of them being up there. After a few minutes, the two of them had reached an outcropping where they were able to see the falls once again.

“Hey, Gabe, can you bring us down to the bottom of the falls? I wanna see what they look like from down there.” Gabriel nodded and the two were instantly on solid ground at the bottom of the Angel Falls. Harry looked up and gasped in awe and amazement. If he had thought that the view from the top was beautiful, then the new view he had was even more astonishing and awe inspiring. While Harry was busy staring at the nature around them, Gabriel made sure to keep an eye out for any danger that may befall them, though he didn’t really expect anything.

They both spent a few hours walking around the area after looking at the waterfall for some time, and they both were having a great time hanging out together. They weren’t worried about getting lost in any way since Gabriel would just bring them back to the house when they were done, so they just walked wherever they felt like walking. They were enjoying the nice day, and Harry felt like this was the best birthday ever.

Harry was sitting down on a rock when they heard the noise. What started off as a rustling in the foliage behind them turned into a low growl. Immediately Gabriel pushed Harry behind him so he would be between the boy and whatever was making the noise. It was getting late in the day, so the sun was not shining as bright as it was before, and they could both make out a pair of glowing red eyes through the trees. The eyes gave way to a reptile-like head with greenish skin that had the appearance of scales. The spine along the back of its head went down in a line along its backbone, and the thin creature slowly made its way towards them with its head low to the ground. Clawed feet easily made indents in the ground with the sharp points, and Gabriel pushed Harry further away as he pulled out his archangel sword.

“Gabe, what is that?” Harry asked warily.

“Es un chupacabras.”

“English, please?”

“It’s a chupacabra.”

“Ah, well that makes me feel a whole lot better.” Just as the creature jumped forward to attack, Gabriel was instantly at its back with the angel blade imbedded in the back of the skull with another hand smiting the thing in a flood of bright light. Harry fell to the ground feeling a spasm of terrible pain run through his body. Gabriel let the chupacabra fall to the ground dead, and he turned to look at Harry. When he saw the boy lying still on the ground, he promptly rushed to his side to see what happened. After a second of thought, Gabriel hit himself in the head.

“Duh, he’s part demon and I just used my grace to smite the chupacabra. Of course some of my grace would leech out to touch all dark creatures in the area.” He brushed a hand through the hair on Harry’s head, and looked down at the boy who was slowly coming to. Harry blinked his eyes a little bit before the world came into focus.

“What happened?” he asked Gabriel.

“I killed the chupacabra, but didn’t think before smiting him. Usually I don’t need to concern myself with using too much of my grace to the point of worrying about any dark creatures around me. I’m sorry, Harry. I didn’t think that you’d be affected by my grace. I guess that it’s just been a long time since I’ve had to use it to smite something. But that is no excuse for what happened…” Gabriel would have continued apologizing, but Harry cut him off with a slap on the side of the head.

“Gabe, don’t worry about it. I’m perfectly fine right now. I don’t blame you for what occurred. We both are still here, alive, so what happened is now over with.” Gabriel helped pull Harry off the ground to stand, and the boy wrapped his arms around the angel.

“But you could have di…” He was cut off again.

“I told you, don’t worry about it. I forgive you. Now how about we go back home, get some candy, and pop in a movie. And how about we don’t let Dad know what happened, okay?” Gabriel nodded and figured out what the approximate time was. He figured that it would be safe to go back by now because either Crowley had decided to go to one of his other houses to meet the Winchesters, or they were gone by now from the home located in Hell, Michigan. When Harry learned of the town they were living in, he couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes.

A hand was placed on Harry’s shoulder, and they were both instantly in the kitchen of the house where they spent the most time. Gabriel did a quick sweep of the house and could tell that they were the only people that were there. Well, as close to people as you could get for being an angel and a half demon. The sound of nails scratching against the floors was heard before a small weight crashed into Harry’s legs.

“Hey, Cara.” Harry reached down and scratched behind the black ears of his new companion.

“So it looks like your dad went off to do some business, but I’m sure that he’ll be back soon.” That was all that he told Harry since Crowley had not wanted him to tell the boy more about the Winchesters or that he was going to be seeing them sometime soon – and that time of course took place on Harry’s birthday. But Harry didn’t seem to mind that his father was currently absent from the house.

“You want to go choose a movie and I’ll get us some snacks?” Harry questioned Gabriel, and of course the angel agreed. In a matter of minutes they were sitting side by side on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them and a bowl of candy on the table beside two glasses of Faygo; candy apple Faygo for the angel, and grape Faygo for the half demon. This was the scene that Crowley came across when he came home. Harry was curled up against the side of the couch with Cara snuggled up on his feet while Gabriel was still watching the last of The Princess Bride.

“Looks like you two had a long day.” Crowley stated from behind the couch, causing Gabriel to turn around to look at him. The angel quietly got up and led the demon to another room so they wouldn’t wake Harry with their talking. Gabriel bit his lip while looking at the ground, nervous at the reaction that Crowley would have at what he was about to tell him. Crowley tilted his head in question at the actions of his friend. Gabriel took a breath and started to tell Crowley about what happened earlier with the chupacabra.

“And so when I killed the chupacabra with my grace, I guess that it kind of spread out in the immediate area that we were in and touched any dark creature that may have been there. Harry didn’t want me to tell you about this, but with how he is already asleep, I thought it best to tell you.” He nervously looked at Crowley to gauge his reaction.

“So you’re telling me that my son passed out from your grace touching him?” Gabriel nodded, and Crowley continued, “I don’t blame you for what happened, angel. As far as I know, you saved him, and there was an unfortunate whiplash from your angel mojo. Chupacabras are nasty buggers that most have a difficult time getting rid of. So thank you for keeping my boy safe. All I can see so far as an after effect is that he’ll probably sleep more during the next few days until he fully recovers. He’ll probably sleep more like if he was human rather than the usual four, five hours he sleeps now.”

Gabriel sighed in relief at the understanding of the man before him, and he slowly relaxed – though he still had no plans to tell Crowley about the close encounter with the Winchesters just days ago at the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Crowley patted his friend on the back and told him again not to worry, and that it was an honest mistake. Harry is obviously fine, so why beat himself up over it? Gabriel nodded his thanks, and said his departing words.

“Well, it looks like I need to go – Trickster duties and all of that jazz. I’ll catch you on the flipside.” And with a wave of his hand in farewell, Gabriel was gone, leaving Crowley alone in the room.

The King of the Crossroads walked over to the couch and sat down in the spot that the angel had taken minutes before. He looked to the television to see the credits rolling, so he waved his hand, and the DVD player and TV were both turned off. He looked over at the still form of his son and thought about what Gabriel had told him. He sat like that for a few minutes until he made a decision. Crowley got up and was careful in picking Harry up into his arms. Cara looked at him with sleepy eyes and a yawn and jumped off the couch. She followed the older man into Harry’s bedroom where he laid the boy onto his bed, and tucked him into the blankets. Cara jumped up onto the bed beside Harry and snuggled up into his side. Crowley threaded a hand through the black locks of hair on his son’s head before placing a brief kiss on his forehead.

“G’night, Harry.” And with that, he made his way out of the room and quietly pulled the door closed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a day in late August that had Gabriel smirking more than usual. Harry had fully recovered from whatever reaction he had from being in the vacancy of the destroying powers of Gabriel’s grace, and all was good for the family. That being said, the archangel was falling back onto his mischievous Trickster ways with what he was planning.

To start off the day, when Harry walked into the kitchen to get himself something to eat, the sight and smell before him made him stop. Any available surface had bunches of herbs spread out across so that there was no open counter space. Sage, thyme, oregano, dill, and countless other types filled the air with their strong fragrance.

“What the…?” Harry began to back out of the kitchen only to be stopped by bumping into someone behind him. He turned to see an equally confused look on Crowley’s face.

“I wondered what that smell was…”

“You think that it was Gabe?”

“No doubt about it.” A flutter of wings was heard behind them, and they both turned to see Gabriel with a grin on his face. He walked past the two demons and into the kitchen where he spun to face the others with his arms spread out.

“Don’t you two know what day it is?”

“It’s August 29th…” Crowley began with an unsure voice, “Is that supposed to mean anything to us?”

“August 29th is More Herbs, Less Salt Day! I would have thought that you two demons would absolutely _love_ today!” Harry was heard chuckling, and Crowley only rolled his eyes at Gabriel’s antics.

“Anyways, I didn’t come here just to celebrate this day. I wanted to see if Harry would want to join me in some old fashioned Trickster games.” Gabriel gave them a smile that said that he was clearly in a good mood.

“Alright, go ahead and corrupt his mind with your evil Trickster ways. I am perfectly fine with that.” Crowley said, which caused both Harry and Gabriel to grin as they disappeared from sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a few days previous when Crowley had pulled the angel aside to show him something important.

“You know, for some reason demons don’t like it when I try to help the Winchesters kill Lucifer, sorry about that, by the way, and this is what happens: they burn down my house and ate my tailor. I’m lucky that they haven’t found out about my house in Michigan yet, and that I have been able to keep most of what’s been happening away from Harry. It’s only a matter of time before anything more serious happens to us or they find out about him.” Crowley sighed and Gabriel panned his view across the ruins of the once magnificent house.

“I have some business that I need to attend to, and I would feel a lot better if I knew that Harry was under your protection for a few days.”

“Sure, no problem. I love hanging out with the kid. If you don’t mind me asking, what business?”

“I’m going to go help the Hardy boys find Pestilence and Death. This way, they can maybe try to get your brother back into his box. I figure that you’re more for this plan than them killing your brother somehow.” Crowley didn’t bother with looking at the damage that had been done to his house, he already knew what was there, and he was grateful that they weren’t around when it happened.

“And I have a favor to ask you too,” Crowley began to ask Gabriel, “You know the symbols that your brother Castiel placed on the brothers’ ribs, you think you can do that to Harry? If you can alter them so they won’t harm him or affect his magic in any way, if you could, that would be awesome.”

“Thinking ahead again, aren’t you? Yeah, I can do that to him soon. You really think that the angels will wanna do anything to him or see him as any sort of threat?” Gabriel replied with a question of his own. Crowley shrugged.

“Better to be safe than sorry. I’d rather he has all the protection that he can get, and nothing happens as opposed to no protection at all and we get caught in another attack, and with him in it this time…” The demon didn’t need to continue with his train of thought since the angel nodded and agreed with what he said, understanding the unspoken words of what may happen to Harry if the sort of thing actually happened.

“So, yeah, I’ll take him for a few days so you can go do what you must.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

(Back to the present day)

While Crowley was off with the Winchesters capturing Brady, Harry was with Gabriel learning more about what he did as the Trickster. They had already spent quite a few days causing mischief around the country, and they expected that the business the King of the Crossroads was up to was probably all over with, but they did not feel up to leaving their fun just yet.

“Seriously? You’re not going to care about the candy wrappers you leave on the ground? That’s like leaving a calling card! At least couldn’t you throw them away or something? Jeeze, Gabe, I’m surprised that you haven’t been caught yet.” Harry said in exasperation as he picked up some of the candy wrappers left on the ground, walked around the dead body on the ground beside them, and strode over to the trash to throw them away. While he did that, Gabriel mumbled something too low for Harry to hear.

“What was that?” Harry asked.

“I said that I have been caught before.” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“And you haven’t thought that maybe, just maybe these candy wrappers have been giving you away a few times?” Gabriel gave Harry a look before defending himself.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve only been caught a few times, and they were by the same hunters. So the multiple times do not count,” pouted the Trickster.

 “Let me guess, Sam and Dean Winchester?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’ve heard you and Dad talking a few times about them, and they’re the only hunters I know of.” Harry smirked. Gabriel was about to say something back, but then his body completely grew still before he went over to the window. He motioned for Harry to join him, and down below they could see Sam and Dean Winchester talking with some local police who had found the previous person that was killed by the Trickster and his partner.

“I knew I felt them arrive here. Everything must have gone good with whatever plans they have going on. Come on, let’s confuse them even more!” With that, Gabriel picked up the dead body, broke the glass of the window, and threw the dead man out. Harry burst out laughing at the shocked cries of the pedestrians below, and the movement of the two brothers to rush into the building made them decide that it would be in their best interests to leave.

Just as Harry and Gabriel disappeared from the room, Sam and Dean rushed in.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dean, I don’t know what to tell you. I have no idea what could be killing these people. I thought it was just going to be a quick salt and burn or something, but, I’m lost.” Sam ran a hand through his hair as he paced in front of the door leading out of their motel room.

“With these strange deaths, I would say that it’s Gabriel being the Trickster again, but he’s dead and there were no candy wrappers around.” Dean took a swig from his beer bottle as he watched his younger brother walking back and forth in front of him from the comfort of the bed.

“Want me to call Bobby?” Dean asked his younger brother, but Sam only shook his head in a negative answer.

“No, I think that we can figure this one out without his help – we just need to spend more time researching or something.” Sam sat down and got his laptop out while ignoring the look his brother gave him at the prospect of more research.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was later that night when both of Winchester brothers were walking through the hallways of the building that they found a clue. After they left the building, Sam reached down and picked up the few candy wrappers that were brushed to the side of the pathway by the door. If they had not known that the Trickster was dead, they would have thought it was him.

“Maybe it’s someone taking over the job now that the Trickster is gone?” Dean posed the idea to his brother, but Sam only shrugged.

“I don’t know, man. Maybe? Anything’s possible.” Little did the two of them know, they had an audience who was watching them from the top of the roof. Harry gave Gabriel a look when Sam had found the candy wrappers.

“What? It was in the room when you cleaned them up – you never did anything about the ones I left on our way to kill this man.” Harry let his head fall into his hands in irritation.

“Seriously?” Gabriel only gave him a shrug of the shoulders and an innocent looking face.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dean, wait up for a second…” Sam dropped the bag he was holding and started patting down his pockets, obviously trying to find something.

“What’s up, Sammy?” Dean turned around to look to see what was making Sam pause.

“I think I dropped my wallet back there somewhere…” he once again trailed off as he glanced back towards the building they just came out of. Dean gave an exasperated sigh as he spun in place.

“You go find it, and I’ll be in the Impala. And please, make it quick?” Sam nodded as he passed off his bag to Dean to take back to the car before walking back to the school. As he walked past a doorway, he could have sworn he heard talking. He took a moment to glance over, thought he saw someone familiar, but shrugged his shoulders and went to find his wallet.


	8. Chapter 8

It was early during one of the sunny, beautiful days when Crowley took Harry out to the place deep in a forest in Lower Michigan where Harry was able to train. The two of them had come to this place a few times previous, and they both enjoyed being in the area. Not only was the place gorgeous and peaceful, but there was more than enough room for Harry to practice his magic with. Any rocks that he worked to destroy would be fine to leave lying about in pieces. There was no chance for any of the locals to hear them, so on the nice sunny day, it was a perfect location for some father and son bonding time. Not only were they there to work on training Harry, but Crowley wanted to make sure that as his son grew up as a part of the supernatural world, he would know how to survive against any other creatures out there. That meant that he was slowly introducing his son to what exists around them, how dangerous each may be, and what he should do if ever faced with one.

Crowley used his telekinesis to pick up several small rocks about the size of the palm of his hand, and he threw them towards Harry. Not only did Harry try to dodge the projectiles, but he also used his telekinesis to try and either destroy the rocks or alter their course so they would not hit him. There were times when he was successful in doing the task, but there were other times when a rock would end up hitting him in the leg or torso. There was sure to be bruises and aches the following days, but Harry was used to the pain from his time at the Dursleys. Though he did not mind how he was getting these injuries since he felt he deserved them and would exert the effort needed to make himself work harder.

While Crowley kept doing this exercise over and over again with his son, he would also ask him questions about the different monsters out there, what they could do, and what their weaknesses were. They went over vampires, wendigos, werewolves, and a plethora of others.

“What can you tell me about ghosts?”

“They can be affected by salt and iron,” Harry closed his eyes as he destroyed a rock in front of his face. “You can get rid of them by burning their bones.” He didn’t get any negative answer out of it, only more rocks thrown towards him.

“Good.” was all that the older demon replied with. More rocks were thrown and destroyed until a particularly nasty hit came to the side of Harry’s face. He dropped to the ground with a hand held to his right cheek. When he removed it, his hand was covered in a thin layer of blood.

“You just going to sit there on the ground or are you going to suck it up, stand up, and continue training?” Crowley didn’t bother asking if his son was alright since he could see that it wasn’t a serious injury. Harry had already grown used to the unforgiving nature of Crowley. Even though he was his dad, Crowley felt that if Harry was coddled and not pushed to his limits during training, then he would not be able to survive the real world of hunters and monsters. Make him learn to deal with whatever comes at him, and he’ll be stronger because of it. God forbid that any son of Crowley’s would be weak and break at the smallest injury.

Harry took the end of his dirty and sweaty black shirt and pressed it against his bleeding cheek as he stood up to face his father with a sneer on his face.

“You have to do better than that if you want to knock me out of the game. Come on, old man, what else do you have to throw at me?” The two of them have grown used to the back talk and insults during the training sessions, and they both enjoyed it immensely. Any other time they would be nice to each other, but as soon as training began, any filter was thrown to the side and ignored for the most part. There were still times when Crowley would show how proud he was of his boy, and times when Harry would still throw his hands up in frustration. It was all a part of the learning process.

Crowley smirked and hefted a rather large log from within the trees and sent it flying towards Harry. He had to initially duck to avoid getting hit, but he only threw out his hand and caused it to start smoking. One end of the log then began to catch fire, but it was a small one that barely glowed more than an ember would. Harry groaned at the lack of fire he was able to create. Crowley put the pitiful flames out and threw a smaller branch that was bare of its leaves.

Harry narrowed his eyes as he once again threw out his hand, this time catching the smaller piece of wood in the air using telekinesis, and promptly used a combination of the destroying power and fire power to not only shatter it into wooden splinters, but to also catch the smaller targets he created on fire. Harry fought to breathe after the intense concentration and magic that he just put himself through. Crowley walked over to his side and commented.

“You’ve gotten better, that’s for sure.” He patted Harry’s sweaty back and gave a smile to his son. Harry then flopped to the cool ground and closed his eyes against the few beams of sunlight that streaked through the branches and clouds above them. Crowley joined him and carefully sat down on a nearby fallen tree.

The day was nice and sunny, a soft breeze flowed through the trees, and birds were heard chirping in the background – both Harry and Crowley enjoyed the relaxing silence after a hard day’s work of training. While Crowley wasn’t as exhausted as Harry, he was still pretty tired and could not wait till they decided to leave to go back home.

But all good things must come to an end. Little did Crowley and Harry know, they were being watched from further in the woods by several figures. They had been watching not only that day, but several times before in wait until the time was right. They were careful not to be noticed, and they were willing to wait however long it took for the right moment to present itself to them. None of them was willing to rush and mess up the capture that would bring fame and power to them in the demon world, in Hell.

They had heard about the price on Crowley’s head, and they were sure that whomever the traitor was teaching would be a nice little bonus. Sure, they heard things while listening to the snippets of conversation they were able to hear, but all they had was rumors and speculation at this point as to who the small child was.

The demons carefully began to lay down the traps and wards they knew before making their move. They knew that if they messed up that the King of the Crossroads would definitely kill them. But with his weakened state after using his power all day, they hoped that they would have some sort of advantage. After all, there was eleven of them, some with their hellhounds, and only two of the ones they were meant to capture. Several out of the group were strong enough to put up hexes in the immediate area so teleportation would be impossible. It was only a minor inconvenience on their part since they couldn’t just grab the two and disappear to their nest, but they found ways to deal with it.

After a nod from some of the others to the one who had the semblance of being the leader of this operation to show that they were ready and that everything was in place, the leader made a motion with his right hand to the demons beside him. Instantly, they began to move in a crescent shape around the open area and started to move forward as silently as they could.

Crowley heard the rustling in the woods behind him, and he told Harry to stand up. The serious and slightly frightened look on his father’s face made him also look around to see what may have caused it. Crowley reached over and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder with intentions to teleport away from the place.

“Dammit…” The demon frantically looked around the area before turning to face Harry with one hand on each side of the boy’s face.

“Harry, remember what I started to tell you about a few days ago about how there may be some attacks on us?”

“…Yeah…”

“You just have to trust me, and start running.” He turned his son and made sure to keep him in front of himself as they both took off sprinting as fast as they could away from the figures they heard moving in the trees.

“If something happens to me, I want you to keep running and trying to teleport away from here. Whoever they are, I suspect demons, they are trying to…” A few howls from behind them made Crowley swear again.

“I get it,” Harry gasped out, “keep running as fast as I can and do my best not to get caught. Easy enough.” They both were dodging the trees the best they could without the knowledge that this was what the demons had wanted them to do. With the sound of the hellhounds getting closer, Crowley had risked a glance backwards and was suddenly found hanging above the ground. Harry skidded to a stop as he looked on in horror as he saw his dad caught in a net that seemed to be burning at his skin.

“RUN! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE!” Crowley yelled at Harry who momentarily panicked at the trapped man before him. “GO!” That snapped him out of his shocked state, and he turned and ran.

Crowley could only hiss in pain as the netting imbedded with stands and shards of iron and soaked in what was probably holy water cut into his skin. The pointed ends of the iron dug into his skin the more he struggled, and the previously white netting slowly began to turn red. He stopped struggling as he saw a few of the hellhounds finally reach him. Several of them started to circle below him while some of the others caught the scent of the one who escaped, and promptly took off running to catch their prey.

While the hellhounds couldn’t reach him, a knot began to grow in his stomach as Crowley worried about his son. The burning pain of the iron digging into his flesh was nothing compared to the feeling he had while staring in the direction that Harry continued running in. The sound of running feet alerted him to the arrival of his captors, and he initiated his struggling once again, but the cold laugh of their leader made him stop and glare at them the best he could while hiding the worry. The guilt. The pain.

“Crowley, Crowley, Crowley. I’m disappointed; you really thought that you were going to stay hidden from everyone after you betrayed your own kind? Betray Lucifer? How stupid are you to think that you were able to get away with helping the Winchesters?” Crowley remained silent as the blonde demon before him grabbed a bag that one of the others was carrying on his back. He opened it and withdrew a few containers with a maniac grin on his face.

“No one ever said that we had to bring you back in one piece. As for that child who was with you, I don’t suppose that you would just tell us who he is, hmmm?” He slowly started to pop the top off of one of the gallon jugs handed to him from one of the others surrounding the net.

“You can just take your questions and shove them up your ass, Damon. I won’t tell you anything.” Crowley snarled out with clear familiarity in his eyes as he looked at the blonde haired demon.

“Oh really? You think so?” Damon put on a pair of elbow length rubber gloves, took an empty container from beside him, and poured water from the jug into it. He walked up close to the iron netting and tossed the contents of the dish onto Crowley, who then confirmed his suspicions that it was holy water in the jugs. That also proved why the others were being so careful in handling and transporting it. He only gritted his teeth, not wanting to give the demons around him the satisfaction of his pain. Before he knew it, another dose of holy water was thrown at him.

After several more containers of holy water were thrown at him, Crowley was drenched and in a constant state of throbbing pain. Of course the holy water getting into the small wounds now all over his body from the iron wasn’t pleasant, but he still didn’t make any sound of protest or any answers to their questions. They also began to douse his wet body with rock salt, which made everything all the worse. All Crowley could do was hope that Harry had gotten away to some place safe.

Questions asked. No answers given. Another splash of holy water followed by rock salt thrown on him. It was a vicious cycle that Crowley and Damon kept going through.

“WHO IS THE KID THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING!” Nothing. The sound of water being poured before it finds itself dripping down the body in the net.

Below the net was a pool of water that was in the early stages of becoming a fairly decently sized puddle. The water dripping down was tinted with blood and created a sound that echoed in the silence between questions.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

It was a constant trickle that punctuated itself as the wet patch below grew bigger.

Drip. Splash. Drip. Splash. It was a continuous pattern that was only broken with more water being added that caused a more unbroken stream before reverting back to the steady pattern.

At this point it seemed like the demons did not care about any answers and were more than willing to let Harry get chewed on by the hellhounds and to spend as much time as they could trying to get Crowley to make any noise in pain. They only assumed that the kid didn’t make it to where he could teleport, and were sure that the hellhounds were chewing him out by now.

“Now, Crowley, while it would be a lot of fun to take you out of the net to play some more, we really have to get going soon. So sadly our play time is almost over.” Damon picked up one of the rather large, thick branches that was off to the side and smirked at Crowley.

“Can you guess what I’m about to do with this, oh powerful King of the Crossroads?” The cold glare that Crowley was giving him slowly began to turn to one of almost glee, which of course caused the demons around him to look at him strangely.

“You know, Damon, there is a way that I can get out of here that you can’t stop.” Crowley positively beamed.

“Oh? And how is that?” Damon stepped closer with the branch held aggressively in his hands.

“A summoning ritual.” Crowley’s grin disappeared with the next words that were uttered from Damon’s mouth.

“You may about to be gone from our hands, but we still have the child.” And with that said, Crowley disappeared from the net only to reappear in a devil’s trap in a house thousands of miles away.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite his desire to stay and help his dad, Harry continued running as fast as he could while still ignoring the fire in his chest and the sharp pains in his legs. He could hear the snaps and snarls of the hellhounds closing in on him, and he was still unable to teleport away.

A cry ripped from his lips as he tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground. The sound of the hellhounds quickly grew closer, and Harry did all he could to keep them away. He grabbed at the sticks and stones around him and threw them in the direction of the dogs. While in the air, they caught on fire, and the small projectiles rained down and exploded. Harry continued to do that while backing up and trying to do his best to regain his footing, but it wasn’t enough.

He counted three, maybe four hellhounds surrounding him. They growled as they circled his vulnerable form. Harry did his best to call forth his magic and bring Lasair to help him. The formation of the huge wolf was enough to distract the hellhounds enough to allow Harry to get to his feet.

If he were to look back at this event, Harry should be proud of himself. He was able to hold off several hellhounds for several minutes with the help of his magic before it became too much. There were too many hellhounds for his magic and training to deal with.

After Lasair was torn to bloody pieces and vanished from sight in a cloud of black smoke and sparks, the hellhounds turned on Harry and knocked him to the ground. He yelled out in pain as a set of teeth gripped his arm tight, another clawed at his thigh, and another bit at his foot. A constant pain filled him from head to toe as he tried to get away from the hellhounds with no success.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam and Dean stood around the outskirts of the room with guns loosely held in their hands as they watched Bobby work the summoning ritual for a certain King of the Crossroads. The older man had the candles lit and bowl of herbs all ready with human blood added sitting on the table where the sigil for the demon as drawn. They already had the devil's trap drawn on the floor, and all that was needed now was the incantation, which Bobby began at a nod from Dean.

He went through the motions of summoning Crowley to them, and in a matter of seconds they were looking at a previously vacant devil's trap that was now filled with a black haired demon who was soaking wet and covered with what appeared to be salt. Rivulets of blood streamed from small cuts and gashes that were strewn about his body. He wasn't wearing his typical suit and tie, but was instead clothed in a plain black shirt that was torn from the net that he was previously trapped in. A pained look was on his face until he came to realize where he was and who was in the room with him. With that, he fell to his knees and the look of pain turned to a look of fear, then a look of pure devastation and anger.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" He looked up and saw who was in the room with him.

"Let me go RIGHT NOW! Or I swear…"

"You swear what, Crowley? Now why would we go and let you go? We just need to talk to you for a few minutes," Sam calmly said as he stepped forward to look down at the demon.

"Yeah, and why are you all wet, bleeding, and covered in, let me guess, salt? One of your girlfriends finally smarten up and dunked you?" Dean smirked at the sight of the usually put together and mannered man who was a mess on the floor, cut off from escaping to do whatever because of the painted lines and symbols surrounding him. Crowley glared at the boys as he tried to hide his obvious worry.

"You wouldn't understand, so just let me go and I promise, despite my better judgment, that I'll come back later this week once I have everything sorted out." He growled out with murder in his eyes. Dean laughed and continued talking to the man.

"With how you're acting right now, I don't think that's much of a good idea. You see, we want to talk to you about something, but we were hoping for a sort of civil and calm discussion. And we clearly can't do so with you in this condition."

"So let me out of here and you will get your 'calm discussion' later!" The clearly anxious man stood up, did the best he could to ignore the stinging of the combination of the holy water and salt that still stuck to his skin and invaded the lacerations. Bobby, who had been silent since Crowley was summoned, had pieced together what he had seen and heard to make an educated guess that he voiced to the demon.

"You're worried about someone who was with you when we brought you here. And it doesn't look like you were in a good situation either." Crowley bit his inside cheek and tried to compose himself as he had his eyes closed before turning to look at the man who just spoke.

"So, who is it?" Bobby asked and Dean cut in before Crowley was able to answer for himself.

"Bobby, you think demons care about others? We've seen them on countless occasions only care for themselves and their plans!" Before Dean was able to continue, Crowley's defeated voice quietly answered.

"My son." All eyes in the room focused on him.

"Wait, what? Who did you just say?" Sam's face instantly grew confused, as did both Dean's and Bobby's. Crowley repeated what he had just said.

"Wait, wait, wait just a second. Did you just tell us that you have a son?" The elder Winchester brother laughed and put a hand to his head. "I mean, how is that even possible?"

"Yes, now let me go so I can save my SON from being KILLED!" Crowley stood up and yelled at the others in the room with anger clear in his voice, but complete and utter worry in his eyes. While Dean and Sam couldn't see it, Bobby could – he recognized the devotion of a parent. He started to gather more materials together to do another summoning ritual.

"What's his name? It's obvious that these two idjits don't give a rat's ass about what you're going through, but I can see and relate to the worry a parent has about their child. I've been there before with these two and saw it in their father plenty of times. So give me his name and I'll summon him here for you since I don't see them letting you out of that trap." The demon looked at him with a hint of respect in his eyes that was otherwise clouded out with clear vulnerability at the idea that the fate of his son rests in the hands of these hunters. Looking completely helpless, Crowley answered.

"Harry. His name is Harry." He sat back down and let his back rest against the barrier of the devil's trap – a scene similar to that of when he first sat outside the Dursley's house listening to Harry's pained cries for help. The pain of not being able to help the boy. He let his head fall to rest on his knees.

"Sam, draw another devil's trap over there." He pointed to the other side of the room and just shrugged his shoulders at the look Crowley gave him. "Can't be too careful."

Bobby started the summoning as soon as Sam was finished with spray painting the second devil's trap, and the sound of Crowley mumbling words that sounded something like "please let this work" was heard, though ignored. As Bobby finished the incantation, all eyes went to the empty devil's trap.

Not even five seconds after the summoning was complete, a very bloody and motionless mass appeared in the confines of the newly created trap. Instantly Crowley was on his feet with his hands pounding against the invisible wall keeping him from running to the still figure of his son. All three of the hunters walked to the newest addition to the room, and Dean instantly turned and pointed a finger at Crowley.

"How sick are you? I mean, come on! You let a demon possess this young boy? He can't be more than six years old for cryin' out loud! I say we exorcise his out of this body and let the poor boy finally rest at peace." Sam thought similar ideas, but chose not to voice them since Dean seemed to do a decent job at bringing them up. It was at the mention of exorcising his son that made Crowley stop pacing in the small confines and grow still with a look in his eyes that made Dean stop talking.

"No, doing that would kill him!"

"Of course that would kill the boy, the demon inside him is the only thing keeping him alive." Sam supplied.

"No, you moron, I mean that by exorcising him, Harry would die! The boy is Harry, and he's my son, and you will NOT BE DOING ANYTHING TO HARM HIM!" Bobby turned his confused look to Crowley.

"What do you mean the boy is Harry? I thought you said that your son is Harry, the demon? How does that work?" Crowley took a breath and told them the truth.

"He's half demon. He's human, but he also is part demon. The change was made when he allowed me to do the ritual for me to adopt him." Of course what Dean said next did nothing to help the situation.

"What kind of fucked up person would agree to become half demon?" He was again stilled not by a murderous or cold glare, but by the look of a Crowley with tears falling from his eyes; eyes that were only focused on the still unmoving body that was close to being unrecognizable from all the blood and grime that was caked to his skin and clothes.

"Don't assume something about a situation you don't know anything about. If all you three are going to do is stand around looking at him, then at least can you call your angel to help him? He may at least show some humanity and help him if you're not letting me help my own son."

"What makes you think Castiel will help a demon spawn?" Dean questioned in return.

"Dean, would you look at him? When have you ever seen him, or any demon for that matter, show that much emotion? If you won't, I will. Cas, we need your help. Can you please…"

The sound of wings fluttering and Castiel's voice stopped Bobby from finishing his sentence.

"What is it that you need?" His back was to Harry, so he did not initially see the injured boy. A small whimper was heard, and a look of hope flared up in Crowley. Castiel turned and saw the bloodied boy on the ground inside the devil's trap. He stood for a second with his eyes trailing up and down, cataloging the injuries he could both see and sense, before he looked at the others in alarm and asked what happened. Sam supplied all the answer they could give.

"Ask him." He pointed towards Crowley who had his full attention on his son. The demon and angel locked eyes, and it seemed as if they had a silent conversation lasting several seconds. Castiel turned and knelt down next to the child, placing a hand on the outer edge of the devil's trap. When he removed it, the trap was broken and he rolled the boy onto his back. The angel placed a hand on Harry's forehead and the other on the place where his heart was. After a moment, he raised his head to look at Crowley in shock. He could feel the traces of breaks and gashes healed by another angel – he could not say specifically who, though the echoes of the angel's grace felt familiar. He then turned his senses on the symbols carved onto the kid's ribs. They were Enochian sigils that were similar to the ones he had placed on Sam and Dean's ribs not too long ago – though they seemed altered to not harm the half demon in any sort of way. Castiel did not know many angels who would willingly take the time to do something like that for a demon of any sort. After all, prejudices ran deep among the holy creatures. This only furthered the angel's curiosity in the half demon and the angel who had both healed the countless wounds and hidden the kid from angels.

"Who…?" For once Castiel was lost for words and was not sure himself if he was asking who abused the boy, or who was the angel that healed him. Crowley only gave him single word as a response.

"Later." Castiel nodded at the other, understanding that it's not something that the other would want to talk about in front of the others.

"I can't fully heal him, I'm not at my full power at the moment, but I can do my best to stop some of the major internal ones." Crowley nodded and looked him in the eye.

"Thank you, Castiel." Were the demon's earnest words as he let out a deep breath and trained his eyes back on his son. Castiel turned his attention back to Harry just as Dean questioned his friend.

"Woah, wait, Cas. You're seriously going to help a demon and his hell spawn? We've done that before, and nothing ever good comes out of it."

"Dean, you have to stop calling him that. Harry deserves to live just as much as you do. He has a past that you can't even begin to imagine…" He trailed off as he concentrated on the task at hand. Harry stirred a little as his body first was rid of the sweat, blood, and grime. Both Dean and Sam gasped as they now were able to recognize who it was, though it was the older of the two who spoke first.

"I knew that I wasn't going crazy and that I saw him before! Wait, does that mean that he was actually controlling the bear at the Sleeping Bear Dunes? I knew it seemed too easy getting rid of it." Not to feel left out, Sam added in his two cents worth of familiarity of seeing the boy before.

"And that time when we thought it was a Trickster, I thought I saw him in one of the abandoned classrooms…" He didn't bother to finish his sentence because he, Bobby, and Dean just watched as Castiel picked up the slightly less damaged boy, walked over to where Crowley was, and handed him over to his father. Together, the angel and demon kneeled down to place Harry in Crowley's lap. Again Castiel placed a hand over the outer edge of the devil's trap that contained both Crowley and Harry, and when he removed it, they were free to leave its confines. Castiel placed a hand on Crowley's shoulder before the demon could do anything, and what was left of the holy water and salt on him was gone.

"Thank you. I know you've already done a lot for me and Harry, but if I may ask you for one small favor. With all that we have been through today, I'm exhausted and sadly not able to transport both myself and Harry back home. Can you…?" Castiel placed a hand on Crowley's shoulder, made sure he was holding onto his son, and disappeared from sight before Dean, Sam, or Bobby could do anything about it, knowing the location of where he was to take them from a slight prod into the forefront of the demon's mind.

The three of them appeared inside the living room of Crowley's Michigan home, and the first thing done by the demon was to carry his son to his bedroom to lay him on the bed – a scene eerily similar to the first time he came into the house.

"I know you have questions, angel, so go ahead and ask." Crowley called from the bedroom, defeat heavy in his voice. As Castiel opened his mouth to talk, another appeared in the room with his back to the angel. The newcomer then proceeded to not realize that Castiel was in the room, and had their focus all on those in the bedroom.

"Crowley! I couldn't sense you and Harry for the longest time, first you were running from demons, then you're gone, and now you're here! What happened?"

"Gabriel? You're alive?" The angel in question hastily turned around in alarm, not recognizing the voice, and only then registering the feeling of another angel in the room. He saw who it was and calmed down a little bit.

"Castiel – it's been awhile." He said, staying where he was he looked his brother up and down to see how he may have changed.

"You can get on with your little family reunion later, but right now I need the stronger angel in here." Crowley yelled from the other room. Gabriel was quick to go to the side of the bed, and Castiel followed close behind, curious of the relationship between his brother and the demon.

One could say he was rather confused as to how a powerful archangel such as Gabriel could be getting along with the demon who was crowned King of the Crossroads. Two powerful beings that were at opposite ends of the spectrum should not, in theory, get along so well. But here the two were – one a worried father, and the other a worried friend. Castiel tilted his head in confusion as he watched the two interact. Crowley was explaining what had happened in brief detail to an angel who had concern clearly carved on his face. An equal look of distress seemed to be forever etched on the demon's face as he held Harry's small hand in his own. If he was not seeing this with his own eyes, Castiel believed that he would never have thought that a scene like this would ever happen.

Then there were his questions about his brother; a brother who has not been seen in centuries, and recently thought to have been dead at the hands of Lucifer. No one had any idea where Gabriel could have been hiding, though no one truly believed that he had died. It was common knowledge before he left Heaven that he hated the fights some of his other brothers would have – especially the ones between Michael and Lucifer. It wasn't uncommon to find Gabriel hanging out and talking with the younger angels while he was still in Heaven. They just seemed more carefree and fun to be around than his older brothers.

Castiel contemplated his own memories of when Gabriel would come and talk with him. Though he was much younger than the archangel, the other didn't seem to mind coming around and talking with him or teaching him a few little things every now and then. Castiel grew to look forward to the times when it was just him and the archangel, him and his brother, him and his friend. It baffled him to now see the very same angel changed in so many ways. He seemed more carefree under all of the worry built up for the one little kid. Not only that, but he seemed more human almost – tolerant of others different than himself. Castiel then found himself wondering how he himself has changed through the years. He realized that he did not hesitate to do what he could for the half demon child today when centuries ago he probably would have killed the thing out of habit of killing the creatures that were dark.

Trying to pull himself out of his thoughts and memories, Castiel once again looked on to see an almost fully healed child who was previously covered in hellhound claw marks and bites among other injuries. It was then when he made the connection between the grace echoes he felt and the Enochian symbols on the kid's ribs with the angel in his sight. If what he had seen before didn't change his thinking, it would have easily been this moment in time when his view of the archangel Gabriel changed. The topic of his musings was the very one who snapped him out of them with a snap in front of his face.

"Castiel, you okay?" Castiel looked up to look at his brother who was now standing in front of him. He then looked over and saw that Crowley was sitting beside the bed with Harry still passed out before turning his attention back to Gabriel with questions in his eyes. The angel was able finally have his first real conversation with the older brother that he idolized since he had made the decision to leave Heaven.

"Gabriel," Castiel reached out a hand to touch his brother, to see for himself that he was real. "I thought you were dead." Gabriel took his brother's hands in his own and gave a small smile.

"Lucy almost was successful in killing me, but I was able to escape. Simple as that." Castiel seemed like he could not find words as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his brother was alive and not just a figment of his imagination.

"Stop opening and closing your mouth like that, you look like a fish." Castiel ignored what his brother said and favored asking one of the many questions he had.

"How is it that you are friends with Crowley?"

"That's a long story meant for a different time, but all you need to know is that while I've been hiding out here on Earth, Crowley and Harry were the only two who knew who I truly was. For the longest time anyone who met me only knew me as the Trickster. That was until this demon over here crossed my path. Things happened, we talked, secrets came out, and we found we had quite a lot in common. We started to hang out every once in a while, did some killing together, hung out a lot more frequently, and soon we became friends. It was nice having someone who knew that I am actually an angel. Then you and the Winchesters had to go break the world and I decided to stick with the other guy who sought out his best interests." Gabriel gave the quick summary that skimmed over the past hundred years, and the younger angel nodded as he processed what he was told.

"Did you ever think about what it did to us when you left? Most all of them still have no idea where you went or even that you're still alive. Did you think about what it did to me?" Castiel exclaimed as his face exposed the raw emotion that he was feeling. Crowley looked up to watch the scene that was going on before him and decided to stay out of what was happening between the two angels.

"Cas, it near killed me to leave you and our other brothers without telling you what I was doing. But you know how much I hated the fighting going on between them." Gabriel pulled his brother into a tight hug, and Castiel laid his head on his older brother's shoulder.

"I know, Gabe, but you know that you were my favorite brother. You taught me so much. So when you left without saying goodbye, I did not know what to do. Many were too busy fighting to realize that you had left, and even when they did find out, they did not seem to care. They only continued on with their fighting. A few of us tried to find you, but you were always good at hiding. I guess in the end it makes sense that you became the Trickster." Gabriel pulled away but kept his arms resting on his brother's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, brother. I wasn't thinking straight when I made the decision, and after I left I couldn't bring myself to come back." While Castiel did not like what had happened, he was still elated that his brother was alive and actually talking with him.

"So you clearly care about the boy over there," Castiel said changing the topic of conversation, "what happened to him? I felt all that you healed in him previously." Gabriel let out a hollow laugh.

"I would have been surprised if you didn't, even with the state that you're in right now." The archangel sighed. "It's not really my place to say…"

"Go ahead and tell him. He'd find out soon enough anyways." Crowley called from across the room. Both of the angels gave him a quick look. Gabriel took a moment to think before he opened his mouth to begin explaining Harry's story to his brother.

"It was bad, Cas. The things his _family_ did to him were disgusting," he began with disgust thick in his voice. "Crowley was the one who found him while he was spending some time in the UK, and after a few times of returning there, he told me about him. Between you and me, Crowley was a wreck at not being able to do anything about it."

"Why wasn't he able to do anything?"

"Cause, believe it or not, there was a blood ward that was keeping us, and any other magical creatures, out. I know, at first I was also confused about why it was there," Gabriel added at Castiel's confused expression, "but then we found out who he was."

"Who is he, Gabriel?"

"Harry Potter."

"And who is that? The name sounds familiar, but from where?" Castiel looked to the ground as he tried to rack his brain and figure out where he heard the name from; if it was from a passing conversation or if it was from something on a much larger scale.

"I know that you probably don't know much about the affairs of the wizarding world in England, but this boy is meant to save them from the oncoming war that will befall them soon."

"Why him?"

"Well, Crowley and I did a little bit of digging in our off time, and we found out a few things. A prophecy was made before he was born, and you know how adamant those are at being fulfilled." Castiel nodded as he brought to the forefront of his mind the memories of a few angels talking about the events going on in Europe. Not many bothered to care about looking after the magical communities since hardly any of them had any sort of faith. They deemed that there was no reason to spend time over there because of the lack of faith. The longer Castiel was given to think about it, the clearer everything came about who the boy was.

Gabriel then went on and explained all that had happened to Harry, and about how Crowley was able to finally break through the blood wards put up by the spirit of his mother to rescue the boy. It all seemed surreal to Castiel – in all of his existence, he had never imagined that a single boy would be so involved in the fate of an entire race; and to think that the boy's own family was capable of harming their own blood. Though it probably should not have surprised the angel because of his own family's long history of the bloody fights between themselves. It's just that he never thought that he would ever get the chance to meet someone of this high importance.

Sure, it was the older, more powerful angels in existence dealt with these things when they came about, but they also kept all the information from the younger ones like him. It was only by chance that he had stumbled across a conversation between the few who still kept tabs on what was going on in the magical areas of Europe. Of course that was right before they discovered that the young angel was listening in, yelled at to mind his own business, and to forget about the entire conversation that he heard. And he did for hundreds of years. At least he did until Gabriel was making him remember what he overheard.


	10. Chapter 10

Gabriel continued talking with Castiel all night, catching up on news and gossiping like a pair of old women, while Crowley stayed faithfully by Harry’s side occasionally listening in. After the worry of whether or not his son would be okay, Crowley relaxed and let himself be entertained by the stories he heard Gabriel tell his little brother. Inside, Gabriel was overjoyed at finally being able to talk freely to one of his brothers, and Castiel felt the same way about getting another chance to converse with the brother he previously thought was dead.

Several more hours had passed and Crowley felt himself being called to business elsewhere. He argued with himself and the inner turmoil going on in his mind to decide whether or not to leave to do his business or stay by the side of the bed with his son. He knew that Harry was going to be fine, that they only went through a small glitch in their life and survived the demon attack. But he also knew that the pull he was feeling was only getting stronger and stronger. It was a major deal that was directed to him, a transaction that a low level crossroads demon would never be able to successfully make. He was obliged to go, even if the majority of the other demons wanted him for the price on his head.

With a groan, Crowley stood up and broke up the two angels’ conversation. Castiel took that as his motion to leave; he had to get back to the Winchesters and Bobby anyways. He figured that they ought to be frantic by this point since he had been gone for quite a few hours, and they were probably anxious to figure out what the hell was going on and why he, an angel, would help a demon spawn. At least that would be an idea of how Dean would word it, Castiel thought.

“Cas, we definitely need to finish catching up later – now that you know I’m alive and all.” Gabriel told his younger brother after he began to make his departing words. Castiel turned to look at the demon before him.

“I was wrong about you, Crowley. My previous views about you were wrong, and for that I am truly contrite. If my brother has been able to get along with you for as long as he has, then I am sure that I will be able to do the same in time. Just try to understand that sometimes old habits die hard.”

“Angel, I appreciate your words, but just don’t let it get out that I have angels on my side; ruins my reputation. And I worked so hard to get where I am now.” Crowley voiced to Castiel. Gabriel smirked off to the side, patted his brother on the back, and loudly whispered into his ear.

“Welcome to the dark side, brother, we have stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Cookies too.” He put on a large grin as Castiel looked up towards the ceiling with a sigh.

“You have not changed one bit. Goodbye, Gabriel. Crowley.” With a nod to both of them, Castiel disappeared with the faint sound of flapping wings, leaving Gabriel and Crowley standing side by side next to Harry’s bed.

“Gabriel, I can trust you to keep watch on Harry while I go do business, correct?”

“Definitely – you can count on me to watch over the little squirt!” Gabriel saluted the demon much to Crowley’s dismay. He rubbed a hand over his tired face and started to walk away.

“Right, I shouldn’t be gone too long. If he wakes up before I get back, make sure he eats something. Cheers then.” And with that, Crowley vanished leaving Gabriel alone to watch over the sleeping kid.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Castiel reappeared back at Bobby’s ramshackle house to find Sam, Dean, and Bobby all sitting around the living room trying to figure out what happened. When they noticed he was back, Dean immediately got to his feet and walked over to the angel and gave off a typical response.

“Dude, what the hell?!” Castiel only gave him a confused look. “You can’t just run… fly off to help demons! They’re, well, demons!” Dean threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

“Dean, it’s not what it looks like. They needed my help, so I gave it to them.”

“Since when did you start becoming Facebook friends with demons? I mean, come on! They’ve tried to kill us so many times that I’ve lost count!” Sam gave his brother a puzzled look.

“Since when did you start keeping track of that?”

“Shut up, Sam,” Dean retorted in reply. He groaned in frustration and turned his attention back to the angel in the room. Bobby of course was just sitting back in his chair, he had an idea of what probably went on with the boy.

“Dean, what I did was justified.”

“You were gone for hours! We had no idea if the demon cut you up to make angel stew for his spawn!” Castiel clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at the hunter.

“You have no idea what that _child_ went through before Crowley came and rescued him.” Castiel emphasized the child part in hopes that it would bring some sort of empathy out of the man in front of him.

“Alright then, tell us. Convince us that what you did was right. Convince us that you did not just help someone who will turn around and kill us once he’s back to full health.” Dean glared at the angel he considered to be a friend, but still in hopes that any broken bridges between them could be mended. Castiel took a breath to regain his composure before beginning to explain what happened.

“I wouldn’t expect you three to understand, but I did what I did because of what the child is. Something like him has not been seen in many years. In fact, I believe the last one was Merlin.” Sam scoffed at the words.

“But Merlin is only a story, something that parents tell their kids at night. He’s only a part of myths and legends.” Sam explained to Castiel. The angel only raised his eyebrows in response.

“Oh, he was very real. I never was given permission to see him since very few of us angels were able to. Only the select few were able to go and gaze upon his power. Sadly, many of them are now dead with only one of them who was given the orders to watch over him. You could say that he was naturally drawn to their location and given the task of watching over them. I guess that is why it makes so much sense that he is with the newest one now.” Castiel seemed to fade into his own thoughts and ignored the outside world.

“Cas, you’re not making any sense. Please, explain more.” Dean impatiently said. That seemed to bring the angel’s mind back to the room they were in, and he elaborated upon what he was talking about. He made sure to tell them all to be quite while he explained everything.

“Thousands of years ago when the first cambion was created, several angels were given the task to watch over them. Watch them to make sure that if anything happened, they could quickly be killed. While cambions are part demon, they are also part human. That is why they were not killed on sight. Angels were not permitted to kill humans, so naturally we were not allowed to kill off the cambions – though they were rare enough that it did not truly matter. There have only been a small few of them here on Earth.

“Harry is something different than a cambion, something that is even rarer. He is one who is part demon and part human just like the cambions, but he was created in a very different way. Whereas cambions are created through incubi, Harry was created through a ritual. He was human before becoming half demon. The thing is about the ritual is that no regular human could survive it. It relies on magic in both creatures.” Castiel saw that Dean was about to talk, but raised a hand to silence him.

“Harry is a wizard, which is why the ritual worked. It is very rarely used by demons, but it is a ritual that is very powerful and bonds whoever is involved – a sort of family bond. In the case of Crowley and Harry, it made them father and son.”

“What do you mean, Harry is a wizard? Shouldn’t you have let us kill him on principle? I mean, a demon is one thing, but a demon witch hybrid? That’s just unnatural!” Dean exclaimed only to be shushed by Bobby.

“Dean, will you please be quiet. Maybe if you let him finish explaining, your questions will be answered.” Dean only lowered his head, but the look of wanting to kill something was still in his eyes.

“As I was saying, yes, Harry is a wizard, but a type that you have never crossed paths with. Their kind doesn’t get their magic from deals or anything. Their magic is natural and given by the Earth. They have a natural magic core inside them that allows them to perform magic. They primarily have stayed around Europe ever since the Salem Witch Trials. While some of them are considered bad, the majority of them are truly good people.” Castiel took a moment to gather the words that he would be telling next.

“Without going into too much detail, Crowley rescued Harry from his relatives, the only family he had, and brought him back. And trust me when I tell you that the child will do better with Crowley rather than with them.” A dark look came over the angel’s face as he mentioned Harry’s relatives.

“What did they do to him? It couldn’t have been that bad, I mean they were still his family.” Dean hesitantly brought up. Castiel closed his eyes with the next part that he told them.

“If you want to know, I’m sure that you will find out if you actually talk with the child. I do not feel comfortable telling his story to you other than what I have already said. All I will say though is that you and your brother were raised softly compared to the hell that Harry went through.” Sam of course had a puzzled look on his face as he tried to work out what may have happened to the small kid.

After a few minutes of silence, Bobby brought up a topic from before that he felt was never fully explained.

“So what were you talking about before with an angel being drawn to these creatures?” The angel moved his gaze to settle on the older man.

“As I believe I said before, a few powerful angels were given the task to watch over these half demons. As far as I know, all but one of them is dead. The only one left who still has the right to watch over them, well, you’ve already met him.”

“Who is it, Cas?” questioned Sam.

“Gabriel. He is the only one left who was chosen.”

“But I thought he was dead? I thought Lucifer killed him.” Sam exclaimed as he accidently knocked over a stack of books in shock. “How is that possible?”

“My brother has always been good at escaping death.”

“Is that why you were quick to help Crowley and his boy?” Bobby asked from the place he was still at on the chair. Castiel nodded and continued.

“It’s a part of it, yes. When I scanned Harry’s body, I could feel the echoes of a powerful angel’s grace that mended his wounds. Not only that, but there were Enochian sigils carved into his ribs – similar yet different to the ones I placed on you two. Only his don’t harm his demon side or interfere with his powers in any way.”

“So then how do you know it was Gabriel?” was the next question that Bobby had for the angel.

“Because once I brought Harry and Crowley back to their home, Gabriel appeared and helped them. From what I saw and was told, Gabriel trusts Crowley and his son. And I trust my brother. So I also trust Crowley and his son.” Sam, Dean, and Bobby all gave him curious glances at his admission of trusting a demon.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Gabriel gave a huge sigh as he looked out the window from where he sat on the couch and absently opened yet another chocolate bar. He began munching on the sugary treat and was lost in thought – something that seemed common among the angels. He was so unfocused with the world around him that he did not notice the small figure slowly walking up to him with his hellhound trailing behind. It was only when he was jostled from Harry sitting down beside him when he was brought back to the present. Cara jumped up next to the two and hunkered down for a nap. Gabriel smiled at the child and offered him a candy bar from the pile that was sitting beside him on the table, other hand straying to pet the hellhound’s furry head. Harry gave a small smile back and took a Snickers bar with a reply of thanks.

“Hey, kiddo, feeling better?” Gabriel ruffled Harry’s black hair.

“Yeah, Gabe, thanks. It was you who healed me, wasn’t it?”

“Eh, it was mostly me. Yeah. But it was one of my brothers who initially healed your major injuries. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?” Gabriel looked down at the small boy with inquiry in his eyes. Harry wrinkled his face in deep thought before he answered.

“I remember training with Dad, running away because we were attacked. I remember Dad getting caught in the net,” with that, Harry’s eyes opened wide in fear. He franticly whipped his head around the room looking for the absent demon.

“Where is he? Is he okay? Did he make it?” Gabriel calmed the hysterical boy and erased his fears by telling him that Crowley was called away on important business, but that he would be back soon.

“Actually, I’m surprised that he isn’t back by now. He said that he should’ve been back before you woke.” That actually did not fully calm Harry down, only caused him to fidget in his seat.

“What if those demons attacked him again? What if he’s not coming home?” Gabriel brought the boy into his arms and patted his back.

“I’m positive that he’s fine. In all the years that I’ve known your dad, he’s never been one to back out of a promise. He told me that he would be back, so he will be back. Now, do you remember anything else?” Harry, now relaxed a little bit more, continued to answer the angel.

“I remember running even more once Dad told me to continue, and the sound of hellhounds following. I tripped on a tree root or rock or something, and I fell. It was then when the hellhounds showed up. I tried my best to fight them off with my magic and Lasair, but it wasn’t enough.” Harry snuggled into Gabriel’s warm side.

“All I remember after that is the hellhounds biting and clawing at me before everything went dark.” Harry mumbled from where his face was pressed against the angel’s shoulder. Gabriel took the empty candy wrapper and threw it onto the slowly growing pile of wrappers on the floor by the couch. He grabbed two chocolate bars – one for himself and one for Harry – and handed it to him.

“Eat it. The chocolate will make you feel better. Trust me, it works.” Gabriel nodded in agreement to his own words, and Harry’s small hand reached out and grabbed it. He opened it and quietly ate it while Gabriel did the same with his own candy.

“So how did I end up back here? And what do you mean that one of your brothers helped me?” Harry questioned after a few more candy bars were eaten.

“Well, you see, the Winchesters and their friend Bobby summoned your dad to them – that’s how he escaped from the trap he was in. Apparently he raised a huge fuss to try and get out, since they had summoned him into a devil’s trap, but they were having none of that. He’s a demon, so of course they naturally don’t trust him. Somehow they finally agreed on something or another, and they summoned you to their house too. Right into a devil’s trap just like your daddy. So that confirms that you can be summoned,” he added as a small side note before continuing on with telling what he understood from the situation by what both Crowley and Castiel had told him.

“And so you show up, all bloody and unmoving on the floor in the devil’s trap, and that brought up more topics of discussion. Those idiots couldn’t agree on anything, so my brother was called in. He actually listened to what your dad had to say, and he went over to you and was able to heal a few of the major injuries you got – just enough to let you live until you were carried back home and into my hands so I could fully heal you. And that is pretty much the Sparknotes version of what went on.” Harry looked up at him and thought about what was said.

“So what brother was it?”

“Castiel, one of my younger brothers who began to start hanging around with the Winchesters. He’s actually the one who pulled Dean out of Hell.”

“Really?”

“Yup.” Gabriel answered, popping the ‘p’ in his reply. Harry reached for yet another candy bar and asked another question.

“So does Castiel know about you now?” The archangel sighed before telling his answer.

“Yeah, he does. Though I’m glad that it’s him and not one of my other asshole brothers that would go back to Heaven to tell everyone that I’m alive and living with demons.” Harry only nodded in understanding, and they continued like that for the next few hours. Candy was continuously passed back and forth between them, and soon Harry had a hand resting on his stomach with a pained look on his face. Of course Gabriel had forgotten that the boy would need actual food to eat, and not just sugary junk. And since he’s an angel, he never had to worry about that sort of thing.

 Just as Gabriel was trying to make Harry feel better, a resounding voice came from behind him. One that he had hoped wouldn’t have been back until a bit later.

“Gabriel. Can you tell me _why_ my son is currently sick from eating too many sweets?” Crowley distastefully looked at the piles of candy wrappers around the couch, and in a moment they were lit on fire because of the demon. The paper wrappers turned to ash, the plastic wrappers shriveled into themselves and blackened, and soon the fire grew to be too much for them. All that was left was just a few small piles of ash.

“I may have let him have a bit too much candy…” Gabriel hesitantly answered as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I would have thought that you would have been sensible enough to give him proper food when he woke up – not these.” he gestured at the ash piles. “How many times do I have to remind you that he is still part human?! When will it get through your thick skull that you need to sometimes actually think before acting? He was just healed from several extensive injuries, and as a food source you give him sweets. In what world is that even remotely a good idea? He needs nutrients that will help his body, not hurt it!” Crowley yelled at the angel before him with only an anger a parent can have in worry for their child.

“Crowley, it was an honest mistake!” Gabriel glanced down at the young boy who was wincing in pain with his arms wrapped around his middle. He placed a hand on the boy’s forehead, and all the tension and look of pain drained out of Harry’s body as he fell into a slumber. “I did not mean to let him get sick – I let him have a few pieces to begin with, and we began to talk. I did not notice how many pieces he was eating!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have let him have any in the first place! Now just get out of my house!” A look of shock came over Gabriel as he heard the last few words. Never before had Crowley ordered him to leave the house in such a cold, angry voice. Sure, he would tell him to leave every once in a while when they first started hanging out with each other, but never have one of their fights – as small or big as it may be – led to Crowley yelling at the angel to leave his sight. With the drooping of his head and a last passing glance at Harry, Gabriel disappeared.

Crowley closed his eyes in an attempt to get his anger under control. In a small part of his mind he was regretting his actions with one of the very few friends he has left, but the larger part that was still filled with worry and anger won out over the care he may have over Gabriel’s feelings. He walked over to where Harry was sprawled out on the couch, lifted him up, and brought the boy to his room.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry woke up the next morning, and if the smoldering piles of ash were anything to go by, Crowley was still in a foul mood despite it being a few weeks since Gabriel was sent away. Harry, of course, was feeling better and the candy he ate was no bother to him anymore. He walked into the living room where he found the King of the Crossroads staring out the window to the cloudy, rainy sky above, a grim look on his face.

“So you finally gonna tell me what crawled up your ass and died to make you yell at Gabe?” Harry dared to ask his father with a raised eyebrow. Crowley turned around to face his son with an irritated look on his face. He ran a hand over his face to try to make himself look better in front of Harry, but the traces of stress and frustration were still clear as day.

“Just a small little deal, this close to closing it, and what does he do? He backs down just cause he can’t stand the thought of kissing a guy over twice his age. A deal to get high scores on the International Baccalaureate tests. I deal out hundreds of the like throughout the year to kids about to take the AP, ACT, or SAT tests, and never have any of the foolish apes backed down. They are the easiest of all the deals, and _I_ wasn’t able to make it. _Me_. The bloody King of the Crossroads wasn’t able to make this deal. All the demons that still care will never let me live this down…” Harry broke Crowley off from his ramblings with a slap to the face.

“So at the slightest act to set you off, you take your frustrations out on pretty much your only friend for no good reason?” the half demon pointed out bluntly to the one before him. This only caused Crowley to pause for a moment, taking Harry’s words into consideration.

“Harry, you know that,”

“No, Dad, I don’t want to hear it. Everyone makes mistakes every once in a while, and I’m sure that it’s breaking Gabriel’s heart to be away from here. Since you clearly aren’t right in the head at the moment, I have some business I need to attend to.” Crowley turned to face his son.

“And what business would that be?” He raised an eyebrow.

“I want to go stop Bobby’s place to see if I can find the angel who saved me and thank him and the hunter. See, I can let prejudices go and I can swallow my pride and thank someone for doing something for me. I can look past the differences between us and move on. I figure I can make it to South Dakota in a few teleportation jumps, and I can always ask the angel to drop me off near home after I’m done, since _obviously_ you have a huge problem with angels at the moment.” Harry turned to leave his father in the room, and was left with a few parting words that dug at his heart.

“You wanna go get blown full of rock salt, be my guest. Maybe that will teach you whose side you’re truly on. Hunters don’t deserve thanks for anything they do because of their hobby of hunting us down and sending our kind back to Hell.” As soon as the words left Crowley’s mouth, it was too late to take them back. Harry had already left. He stood still for a few moments before looking at the mess he made.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A few hours later, Harry was standing in front of the house to which he had previously been summoned to. Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked forward, made his way up the stairs, and hesitated a moment before knocking on the door. Seconds later, the door creaked open to reveal the scruffy haired man who could lay claim to being a part of saving Harry’s life.

Bobby Singer raised an eyebrow and pulled his rock salt shotgun into view at the sight of the half demon. Despite coming to Harry’s aid, Bobby still kept in the front of his mind that there was a partial demon at his door. All the years of being a hunter would never allow him to let his guard down – even if it was only a kid.

“What d’ya want?” Bobby gruffly asked Harry.

The boy took a breath and confidently replied, “I was hoping to find the angel who helped me here. I wish to thank him for what he did, and to thank you too for helping me also. I wasn’t given a name, so I cannot call for him, and I was hoping he would be here so I could thank him face to face.” Bobby’s shotgun lowered only a fraction of an inch, but his face softened to one you would expect on a father.

“Castiel. He’s the angel you’re looking for. Should be around here somewhere…” Just as those words left his mouth, a black Impala could be heard rumbling up towards the house. With a glance to Harry, Bobby firmly gripped a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place and not disappearing in the face of two more hunters and an angel. “Stick around for a bit. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind us asking a few questions.” Harry was hesitant in staying in the presence of the hunters, but he was determined not to show the intense fear he was feeling inside. His father’s words echoing in the back of his mind, _hunters don’t deserve thanks for anything they do because of their hobby of hunting us down and sending our kind back to Hell…_

Out of the Impala came Sam and Dean Winchester with Castiel following close behind from the back seat. They didn’t notice the half-demon there at first, but when Dean saw who was standing beside Bobby on the front porch his hand automatically went for the rock salt shotgun while Sam’s own hand reached for the knife. Castiel only gave a small, sad smile for he was the only one present who knew of the pain and suffering Harry went through during his childhood. He could see how good Crowley was for the boy despite being a demon – a fact that he won’t soon forget.

“Bobby, what’s this?” Dean asked with a disapproving look on his face and a sweep of his hand to what was before him. In seconds, Sam and Dean both were up on the porch alongside Bobby, nearly blocking Harry from having a way to leave without pushing any of them aside. Castiel followed behind, but opted to stay some feet away off the porch, content to just appease his curiosity by watching, deciding that if need be he would help the small child.

“Well,” Bobby started, “Harry came by a couple minutes ago wanting to thank you.” He nodded in Castiel’s direction.

“Why would a demon show any sort of gratitude?” Disgust was clear on his face.

“Dean, cut it out – he’s right here.” Sam gave his brother an irritated look.

“Yeah, and your point is what exactly?” Harry slowly backed away from the conversation as well as he could and moved closer to where the angel was standing. Dean took notice and called out to him.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going, Spawn?” Harry turned around at the bottom of the steps to face Dean.

“You’re seriously going to call me that? You really think that that was a good idea?” Standing a few feet away, Harry briefly let a ball of fire ignite beside where the hunter was standing. Dean flinched away from the barely there heat, looked down to make sure he wasn’t singed anywhere, and when he looked back up he saw Harry face to face with Castiel who had an intense look on his face.

“It would be best if you remember who I am and who you are now. Despite your past, if you ever harm the Winchesters I will not hesitate to destroy you.” Castiel hissed into the half-demon’s ear when he walked forward to be close enough to do so, and quiet enough that the hunters would not hear. “Do not forget that I can see your true form, however faint it may be, along with where your blood has connections to in this world.” Harry looked into Castiel’s eyes and replied,

“Yet you still helped me before, and for that I wanted to come and thank you. Though I want _you_ to know that while I respect your relations with these hunters I will not hesitate to protect myself if push comes to shove. You know that it is going against my nature to willingly be in the presence of these hunters who would take much pleasure in hearing me scream I bet, yet here I am.” Again, faintly in his mind: _hunters don’t deserve thanks for anything they do because of their hobby of hunting us down and sending our kind back to Hell…_

“You are still part human, and even more, one with natural magic. That together is enough to overpower the demon within you, and you don’t need to follow the urges of it…”

“I know what you’re trying to do, but just stop. Don’t ever think that I would turn from my family. I may be civil with you lot, but don’t think that we are friends. I only came here to thank the old man and you, and then I planned to be on my way. No more interaction than that. So thank you, Castiel.” He turned to look in the direction of Bobby. “Thank you again, Bobby, and hopefully it will be a long time before you all see me again. Ta-ta for now.” Harry made it a few feet away from the group when he heard the hurried sound of footsteps and a hand clamping down on his shoulder. He swung around and attempted to land a punch at whoever touched him. It was a failed attempt as arms wrapped around him to keep him there.

“Woah there, Spawn. You’re not going anywhere. We have some questions we want to ask you.” Dean’s breath was felt on the back of his ear. Harry broke free from the arms holding him and turned to glare at the man.

“Fine. I’ll answer some of your questions as long as you don’t feel me up anymore.” Sam concealed a snicker at the look of disgust Dean showed.

“Shut up, Sammy.” He glared in his brother’s direction. “Alright, question time.” Dean rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The five of them were seated inside Bobby’s house comfortably – except Harry was quite fidgety with a very good reason to be so. He was in a house that had many ways to seriously hurt him with three hunters and an angel of the Lord. Any dark creature would be fidgety in his position. _Hunters don’t deserve thanks for anything they do because of their hobby of hunting us down and sending our kind back to Hell…_

“Okay, first question: who the hell _are_ you? All we know is that you’re some freaky witch-demon hybrid that Cas seems rather fond of.” Dean leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him. Bobby was sitting back in his chair, Sam was sitting on the couch next to Harry, and Castiel was standing stiffly in the doorway. Irritation crossed Harry’s face as he answered Dean.

“First off, Squirrel, I am not ‘some freaky witch-demon hybrid’, I’m a ‘freaky _wizard_ -demon hybrid.’ But if you want to insist on using correct terms, I am a human who has natural magic, also known as a wizard – completely different than the witches you know of – and I just so happen to have been adopted by Crowley who is already a better father than the previous people I was living with, and is the best thing to ever happen to me.” Sam cut off whatever reply Dean was about to say in favor of keeping everyone in good terms with each other.

“So Cas only told us that Crowley rescued you from your relatives and that being with the demon is better. What does he mean by that?” Sam could see Harry’s posture stiffen and his eyes darken.

“I don’t want to talk about _them_. As far as I’m concerned, they are not my family in any way, shape, or form. Crowley and Ga… Crowley is my only family.” Harry cut himself off from mentioning Gabriel to the hunters, unsure of how much they knew about the archangel.

“We know about Gabriel – Cas told us that he’s still alive and kickin’ with you and Crowley as his buddies. Kinda hard to believe that an angel would willingly work with a demon,” Dean stated from where he was standing with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe working with demons is not as bad as it could be.” Castiel stated under his breath from where he was standing, but still loud enough for the others to hear.

“What do ya mean by that, Cas?” Dean sternly asked. The attention of the room fell on the angel, and Harry saw this as a way to make his escape – he didn’t want to be there longer than he needed to be.

“Well, from what I’ve seen, Crowley and Gabriel working together seems like it works. They get along fine and seem to care about each other.” Cas continued trying to reason why it may not be so bad to work with certain demons sometimes, but Dean was having none of it and tried to give all the reasons why it would be bad.

While the previous argument was going on, Harry inched his way closer to the door, careful not to walk into any devil’s traps. The sound of the door opening was enough to draw attention to him, but he was quick to run a few feet away before disappearing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry walked into the living room after coming back from his delightful conversation with the Winchesters, Bobby, and the angel to find Crowley sitting in one of the black leather chairs with a book in his hands and a glass of Craig on the side table. The demon set his book down when he noticed his son entering the room.

“So, are you satisfied now? Your trip successful? Finished sucking up to the hunters?” Crowley asked in a sarcastic way with annoyance on his face.

“Oh shut up, you just don’t want to admit that it was a hunter and their angel who saved my life. When will you give up this icy exterior? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you miss Gabriel and are jealous that the Winchesters have an angel they can still depend on in Castiel. Just stop being Mr. Grumpy Face and let Gabe come back.”

“I do not miss him, and I am not jealous. The King of Hell does _not_ get jealous.” Crowley insisted. Harry only gave him a knowing look.

“Really – you’ve been a grumpy old man since you made Gabe leave, and I miss him…” Crowley’s face softened when he saw the downcast look on Harry’s face.

“I guess I was a bit hard on him, but he should have made sure that you didn’t get sick,”

“Dad, it’s Gabriel. When does he ever think things all the way through?”

Crowley seemed to go deep in thought as he reflected back on all that had happened.

“Alright, I’ll go take down the angel proofing sigils from around the house so that the feathery bird can come back.” Harry grinned and ran to hug the demon and thanked him, which action alone also served as an unspoken _I’m sorry for what I said earlier_ on Crowley’s part and forgiveness in response from his son.

When the two broke apart from the hug, Harry recalled the conversation that was going on when he left the hunters and their angel earlier.

“Not sure how much this may interest you, but it seems that Castiel doesn’t have as much of a negative view towards demons anymore or something. Probably has something to do with him seeing the way you and Gabe are able to be civil towards each other most of the time. He said that maybe it wouldn’t be that bad working with a demon.” Crowley’s eyes had a thoughtful look to them at what his son was telling him.

“Did he now…” The King of Hell thought a bit and stored that information away for later.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was several hours later when Gabriel was finally convinced that he was able to come back to his small family without getting thrown into a wall. Harry and Crowley were sitting in the living room together when the archangel made his appearance after being gone for so long. If you were to choose an animal that he most resembled at the moment, it would be a kicked puppy who knew that he did something wrong in the eyes of his master. He raised his eyes to look at Crowley, silently pleading for forgiveness.

Harry nudged his father’s side with his elbow, and Crowley shifted in his seat of the couch. The demon looked slightly uncomfortable as he too raised his eyes to meet Gabriel’s gaze.

“Gabriel, you know I don’t do this often,” Crowley began with hesitation in his voice. Harry nodded for Crowley to continue. “The last time you were here watching over Harry, I _may_ have overreacted a bit… I was having a bad day and was having issues with a simple deal…” his voice grew dimmer and mumbled towards the end so the last bit was unintelligible.

All the while Gabriel was shifting from foot to foot, clearly nervous as to what the outcome was going to be of this conversation. He watched as Crowley had his eyes cast down and Harry was getting more and more irritated with his father.

“What he’s trying to say,” Harry cut in, “is that he is sorry for what he said to you and wants to ask for your forgiveness since you two need to kiss and make up with each other so you two can actually be on speaking terms again. So I’m going to go find myself something to eat, and when I get back I want you two to be friends again, or whatever you call this between an angel and a demon.” Crowley and Gabriel once again looked at each other as Harry left the room, leaving the two of them alone to their own devices.

When Harry returned to the living room, he came upon the sight of Crowley and Gabriel on the couch sitting next to each other, actually talking, and not at each other’s throats. As soon as Gabriel saw Harry, he jumped up from the couch and jumped onto the boy to give him a large, hey you don’t need to breathe, hug.

“Thank you for everything.” Gabriel whispered into his ear to which Harry smiled back and gave him a squeeze with his arms.

~*~*~*~*~*~

(Time Jump)

It was once again almost the last day of July, and it had been a few years since Harry had gotten Crowley to talk to Gabriel again. Every birthday previous had been special in their own ways to Harry since being adopted by Crowley, but this birthday will always be remembered as much as the first one he had with his father – Harry will be turning eleven. Last year had been special for hitting the double digits in age, but something even more special would take place once the morning sun shone through the windows in the King of Hell’s home.

The morning of July 31st began just as every other July 31st had begun before once Harry began living with Crowley, and by association, Gabriel. He was swamped with cheers of happy birthday and candy by Gabriel, and was given the usual warm, proud smile by Crowley.

“Happy birthday, Harry!” Gabriel threw his arms around Harry from behind the boy, picked him up, and spun around with him gripped tight in his arms. He was set down, and fell into the warm embrace of his father wishing him the same as the archangel, but with not as much energy as Gabriel had – though that did not take away any of the love between them.

“So what do ya want to do today, Harry? Presents or adventure first?” Crowley questioned his son, but before Harry was able to answer, there was a tapping at the window.


	12. Chapter 12

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Harry, Gabriel, and Crowley turned to look towards the window to see what or who was making the tapping noise. Upon seeing that it was merely an owl, Gabriel let his hand fall back to his side after reaching instinctively for his angel blade.

“Why the hell is there an owl tapping at the window?” Crowley wondered as he strode over to the window. He opened it, and grabbed at the owl. He held the creature close to his chest as he noticed the letter tied to his leg. He untied it, and let the bird go. In response, the great horned owl flew over to where Gabriel was standing and used his shoulder as a sort of perch.

“Aww, look at the two birds together.”

“Oh, shut up, demon.” Gabriel shot back to Crowley. The angel then conjured a goblet of water and held it up for the owl to drink from.

“What’s in the letter, Dad?”

“It’s for you, Harry. You open it and find out.” The cream colored letter was handed over to Harry. He took a look at the front of the letter and read who it was addressed to. It had his name, Mr. Harry McLeod, written at the top with the rest of his address written below in green ink. It was definitely meant for him, as weird as it seemed. But in the life that he was now living, he did not put much thought into the idea of having an owl deliver a letter, or even how the owl found him. He just accepted it and moved on, more curious as to what the letter contained since he never got any mail from people he didn’t know.

The boy then cautiously broke the red, wax seal and opened it – only taking a few moments to glance at the crest that was inked about it. Harry pulled out the sheets of paper that were contained within and unfolded the pages. He knew that he had natural magic in him since his father and Gabriel told him at the beginning, but getting a letter saying that he was accepted into a magical school located in Scotland. That made it all sink in. His whole life with Crowley and Gabriel so far was all about the supernatural: demons, angels, hunters, rugarus, wendigos, and all the other sort of creatures who are different from the creatures unique to natural magic. He’s been told about how there are some differences between natural magic creatures, and the ones that he’s grown up around for the past few years. He’s of course never seen any, since they seem to be more frequently seen across the pond, but he has been given basic knowledge of them. That and he has only really focused on the demon magic within him and never really experimented with his natural magic, too dangerous his dad said since both he and Gabriel have very limited experience with it. But now looking at a letter that confirmed it all, he was becoming more aware of how little he really knew of the world he left. He looked down at the papers held within, and then gave them to his father and Gabriel to read.

_Dear Mr. McLeod,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._  
For students living in America and surrounding countries who wish to attend Hogwarts, we will accept your owl no later than 5 August.  
  
Yours sincerely,   
Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress

After the first paper, they took a look at the other one that came with it:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_UNIFORM_

_First-year students will require:_

_1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)_

_Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags._

_COURSE BOOKS_

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

_By Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic_

_By Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory_

_By Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

_By Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

_By Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions_

_By Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

_By Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

_By Quentin Trimble_

_OTHER EQUIPMENT_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS_

_ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK_

_Yours sincerely,_  
Lucinda Thomsonicla-Pocus  
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

“Well, we knew something like this was going to happen sooner or later, just not sure what schools would send a letter to you.” Gabriel commented after reading over the letters. Crowley nodded in agreement as he handed them back to his half-demon son.

“Up to you, Harry. You want to stay in America and find a magic school here, or go to Hogwarts? I’ll support whatever decision you go with.” Crowley asked and Gabriel nodded, still playing with the owl. Harry took a moment to think about it, and ended up coming with his decision rather quickly.

“I guess that I’ll go to Hogwarts, and if I don’t like it, I’ll find somewhere else to go.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Once coming to the decision a few hours earlier, Harry decided that going to get his school supplies would be a fun adventure for his birthday, and Gabriel and Crowley both agreed. Before leaving, Gabriel first popped around to a few of his contacts to find out the best place to buy the materials on Harry’s school shopping list, and came back with the name of a place in London: Diagon Alley. While Gabriel had gone off to do that, Crowley had Harry pen a letter to reply back to say that he would be attending Hogwarts. Harry attached his letter to the owl’s leg, just as he had seen the letter from before, and allowed the owl to leave through the window.

They ended up going through a place called The Leaky Cauldron, experienced Gabriel struggling to figure out the right bricks to tap much to Harry and Crowley’s amusement, and were now standing in the middle of the street full of the bustling energy of people shopping. To their left was a small cauldron shop, and to their right was the Apothecary. Crowley, Gabriel, and Harry were all standing there for a few moments to take in all the new sights to them.

“Come on, let’s take a look around before we go and buy anything.” Crowley said as he made his way forward amongst the crowds, Harry and Gabriel trailing behind. After a few minutes of glancing at the different shops, a large, snow-white marble building that towered over the other buildings came into view.

“Gringotts Wizarding Bank. I suppose that a bank of any sort should be our first stop. I bet that places here wouldn’t take regular American money.” Harry thought aloud for both Crowley and Gabe to hear. They agreed with the boy, and entered the building, passing by the goblins that flanked the entrances and only glancing at the engravings on the silver doors. Once in the main lobby area, they walked to one of the open tellers, and Crowley took the lead.

“Is there any way that I can exchange American currency for the currency used here?” The goblin who was there looked bored, and begrudgingly answered that they do. He then gave Crowley a quick rundown of the exchange rate, but the demon did not give much care of the specifics – he had enough money that he did not need to worry about not having enough. They exchanged a bit of the money and were given a bag that contained it all. Crowley also went ahead and opened an account in his name that Harry would be able to use if need be. They did not want to try and see if Harry had any vaults to the Potter name at this time since that would bring about unwanted questions that they did not want to deal with until later.

A bit of time later found the three with the majority of Harry’s shopping list all bought with only a few things left to buy. It was at this point when Gabriel excused himself, taking a small portion of the money with him.

“So, want to take a break or finish buying what you need for school?” Crowley asked his son. Harry looked around them, spotted Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, and made a choice.

“Let’s finish up shopping, and then I’m sure Gabe, after he gets back, would love to stop by there.” Harry pointed at the ice cream place to which Crowley chuckled and agreed. So the two continued with the shopping and went into the next shop that advertised all different types of trunks.  There were trunks of all different sizes, shapes, and colors.

“Hello, good sirs, how may I help you?” A scraggly man with graying hair greeted them from behind the counter in the back of the small store. He was short and used a cane to help him walk, but that did not deter his enthusiasm for his job in any way. Crowley cocked his head as he eyed the man for a moment before replying.

“We’re looking for the best trunk you have.” Crowley cut the man off before he was able to voice the expense of a trunk of the sort. “And money is no concern.” The man who had introduced himself as Mr. Sanura gripped his cane tightly as he grew ecstatic at the prospect of a sale of this magnitude.

“Right this way Mr...” he trailed off, looking for the name of his customers.

“McLeod.” Crowley stated.

“And your son?”

“Not of importance.” The demon said, thinking of how terrible it would be if anyone was to make the connection between Harry and who he was – as improbable as it would be to be made by an old shopkeeper.

“Ah, yes, just come this way, Mr. McLeod. I have the very best that you could ever want in the back room.” Mr. Sanura led Crowley and Harry past the counter and through a door. The man flicked his wand and the dark room was lit up instantly. Before them were several trunks that looked similar to the ones in the front, though both Crowley and Harry were able to feel some of the magic that went into them.

“All of these trunks have many of the same basic enchantments upon them – fireproof, water resistant, and unbreakable among several others. They also all are bigger on the inside, and are very lightweight despite all that you put in them. Also, they can be magically keyed to only open for certain people, and you can choose to have several different safety features added to trap anyone who tries to break in into one of the multiple compartments of your choosing. Of course, you can have anything added to it, and each has a full list of all the enchantments added to it in the first compartment. So, do you see any that you are interested in?” Mr. Sanura looked to Crowley, expecting him to speak, but was surprised when it was Harry who stepped forward to look at the trunks displayed before them.

Harry walked to each one, and finally went to stand beside the one made of dark rosewood with pearl inlays making curving in an intricate design swirling around the corners. The lock in the front was made of shining silver in a basic lock design. But instead of a regular slot for a key to fit into, there were four holes in a line. Before Harry or Crowley were able to question the holes, Mr. Sanura informed them what they were for.

“You place your four fingers into those slots, excluding your thumb of course, and the magic reads who has placed their fingers there, and either unlocks it or transports them to the holding compartment for the thief. Another thing I should mention is that while inside the prison compartment, if you wish to call it that, the thief is unable to perform any sort of magic. It pretty makes anyone in there to be magicless and powerless. Of course, anyone who is keyed into being able to open the trunk still has their magic while in there.” Both Crowley and Harry liked what they were hearing, and soon Crowley was making the payment for the trunk. At the front counter, Mr. Sanura pulled out a paper, scribbled down a few things on it, and slid it across the counter to Crowley.

“This is something that I have all my customers who buy from the back room fill out. Since not many buy from back there, I like to make sure that the few who do have a great experience using them, so I add on a lifetime warranty for free. All I need is for you to sign right here.” He pointed to a line at the bottom of the page. Crowley took the quill that was handed to him and scrawled down a symbol but used his magic to disguise it to look like his name written out in English. It was something that he had just gotten into a habit of doing over the years, writing down his true name, and then placing a permanent glamour on it to make it legible to those reading it.

Mr. Sanura told them how to key people into being able to open it, and then proceeded to key both Harry and Crowley into it. After doing so, Harry was able to open it to reveal the locks that would allow the other compartments to be opened. Crowley then took the items that they had bought from his pocket and unshrunk them and let Harry take them to place them all in the first compartment. Crowley then shrunk the trunk and handed it to his son. As they made their way to leave the shop, Mr. Sanura thanked them for their service and bid them a good day.

After getting the trunk, the two went and finished gathering all that Harry would need, skipped over buying any animals since they probably wouldn’t get along well Cara, and met up with Gabriel after a small amount of time had passed. Gabriel’s face grew bright at the prospect of ice cream, so what they would be doing next was decided.

“Of course we’re stopping for ice cream next; no way would I pass something like that up! Come on!” the archangel pulled them along, eager for the sugary sweet treat. It was then when the bag that Gabriel was carrying became noticeable. It wasn’t large, but it obviously wasn’t there before.

“Hey, Gabe, what’s in the bag?” Harry curiously asked.

“Oh, you’ll find out later.” Gabriel smugly replied as he spooned another bit of ice cream into his mouth. Harry scowled at him and Crowley only laughed, already having an idea of what was in the bag.

“Seriously, angel, what’s in the bag? You can just whisper it in my ear and I swear I won’t tell Harry – we can even seal the deal with a kiss if you want.” Crowley jokingly said. Gabriel seemed to contemplate what was said for a second before voicing his reply.

“Sorry, buddy, you’ll need to wait until later just like the little squirt here.” He smiled and shoved another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth while Crowley grumbled and stabbed the spoon into his own ice cream several times.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The three of them returned back home with Crowley teleporting Harry with him since the young half-demon was not able to teleport that distance by himself yet, and it felt more natural to the boy to do it with the demon magic rather than tagging along with Gabriel and his angel magic for a ride. The two different types of magic were two that should be kept separate a good majority of the time as they often seemed to repel each other, or at least didn’t feel _right_. Many times it’s perfectly fine, so the occasional jumps Gabriel made with Harry were perfectly fine, it’s just not something that is the best feeling ever.

“You gonna let me know what’s in that bag of yours yet?” Harry jokingly asked as he let brought his black trunk out from his pocket and made it bigger before their eyes.

“What, so your trunk with spacial issues isn’t enough to keep you occupied and your mind off of this bag?” Gabriel commented with a grin on his face.

“Be quiet, I’m curious.” He nudged the angel, who pushed back. That then led to them falling to the floor and tumbling around playfully with grins on their faces.

“Children…” Crowley mumbled to himself, a smile of his own tugging at the corners of his mouth at the sight before him. Earlier in the day he had given Harry his birthday present: two small daggers with a wrist and ankle sheath for each. The daggers themselves had a few charms on them to keep them sharp, clean, basics like that. They were made of silver and had an intricate swirling design that ran from the base of the hilt to flaring out just before the middle of the blade. They were fairly light, and fit snugly in their sheaths. The sheaths were made of black leather and had silver thread sewn along the edges along with a design in the center. The design was of an eight with a circle around it – the same design that was used during the ritual that bonded them as father and son.

Crowley had an idea of the present that Gabriel had prepared for Harry because of a conversation he and the angel had a while ago concerning the possibility of Harry leaving for schooling later on, with the time coming soon now that he got his Hogwarts letter. They both already agreed that Cara would go with Harry wherever he went to school since the hellhound was very well behaved and is invisible to the majority of the population. But the problem they thought of was one that every parent has when sending their child off to a new place. Because of what Harry is, there’s always the possibility of a hunter stumbling across him and what he is, so it would be a good idea to give Harry a way to alert them of possible danger.

Once the two were finished fighting in their own way, now sprawled out on the floor, Gabriel reached over and grabbed the bag and tossed it to the boy. Harry caught it and looked up before opening it to see what was inside.

“Go ahead, open it. And again, happy birthday!” Gabriel beamed as Harry pulled out a silver chain with a pendant no larger than a quarter hanging from it. Upon closer inspection, the circular pendant, heavy in Harry’s hand, had a large symbol engraved in the center of a circle with other smaller symbols engraved around the edges. It felt warm to the touch and filled him with a sense of love and happiness.

“What do the symbols mean, Gabe?” The archangel shifted a bit before telling them.

“The one in the center is my symbol. Anyone who recognizes it as that will know that you’re under my protection, but there’s very few who would see it as that. The majority of anyone who recognizes it as my symbol, the symbol of the archangel Gabriel, will just see it as that. Nothing special. As for the ones around it, they’re Enochian. I have the pendant connected to me. If you’re in any sort of trouble, I’ll be able to sense it. The Enochian helps with that, and also offers a feeling in return to you, as I’m sure you’ve noticed already.” He said, meaning the warmth that Harry was already feeling from holding it.

Harry was speechless at the thoughtful gift that was given to him, and all he could do was hug Gabriel tightly for several moments – a hug that the archangel gladly returned.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was finally the morning of September 1st, and Harry was giddy with excitement. The night before the three of them got together to talk about what the plans were, and they had come to an agreement rather quickly.

(Last Night)

“So the train leaves King’s Cross at 11 o’clock and you’ll get to Hogwarts in the early evening,” Crowley began. After they had sent the owl back with Harry’s letter to confirm that he would be going to the school, another owl came back a few days later with information on how to get to King’s Cross and how to get to the Hogwarts Express. It also contained info on international portkeys for families who chose to use them, which Crowley scoffed at the idea of using natural magic as means of transport when both he and Gabriel could easily pop back and forth between the countries without any sort of trouble.

“And you’ll of course be bringing Cara with you since there is no way that I am letting you go to any magical school without any sort of protection.” Gabriel nodded his agreement to what Crowley was saying, and also added in his two cents.

“And remember to write a lot – I’m already missing you and you haven’t even left yet!” The angel pulled Harry into a bone crushing hug and swayed back and forth.

“Gabe… Can’t… Breathe…” Harry pushed against Gabriel’s chest as he was able to take a deep breath.

“Oh, you don’t need to breathe right now. Just think, you’ll miss these hugs that I give after a few weeks of being surrounded by nasty children. And I bet that you’ll also miss all the little times you’ve been able to spend with the Winchesters and my brother.” Gabriel pointed out as he reached over behind the couch and pulled out a bag that he handed to Harry. “Since I doubt that they’ll have your favorites at Hogwarts,” he motioned for the boy to look in the bag.

“You’re giving me a bag full of candy? So Halloween has come early?” Harry grinned and placed the bag of candy into his trunk next to his other belongings. It was very useful to have a trunk that was bigger on the inside and also was fairly light for its size. They had made sure to have everything packed earlier that day so there would be no rush to do so that night or in the morning – they would be able to have a peaceful morning before leaving to see Harry off.

“Just don’t eat all of it at one.” Crowley warned his son who only rolled his eyes in response.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He said as he pulled out two chocolate bars and tossed one of them to Gabriel.

(Back to Present)

“So, you ready to leave?” Crowley asked as he shrugged on one of his suit jackets and buttoned it up. Harry nodded enthusiastically as both he and Gabriel quickly checked to make sure that he had everything he needed packed away before he too pulled on one of his leather jackets over his red button up shirt to go with his jeans and red converse.

Once they had everything all prepared to go, Gabriel grabbed onto the trunk and Harry grabbed onto Crowley. They then disappeared from the living room and reappeared in an alleyway by King’s Cross. Together, Gabriel, Harry, and Crowley merged into the crowd on the sidewalk and made their way to the train station.

Once in there, Gabriel led the way to Platforms 9 and 10 to which even if he didn’t know of the magical entrance located there at first, he would be able to feel _something_. There was so much magic that saturated the area that it would be hard for any magical being to not notice it. Both Crowley and Harry also took notice of the tingly feeling they were getting the closer they came to where Platform 9 ¾ was located.

“It’s easy to see that this is where it’s located, but how do we…” Gabriel trailed off as they saw a small group of people quickly walk right into the spot between Platforms 9 and 10. “I guess that answers my question. Come on.” He led the way and fearlessly entered first before Crowley and Harry. Harry hesitantly walked into the barrier next, and Crowley took up the last in the line to go through.

On the other side was a brilliant, scarlet locomotive with steam already billowing out. There were numerous people bustling about – families saying goodbye to their children, little kids crying at the loss of their older siblings, friends greeting each other once again, and the whistle of the train among hundreds of other sounds.

“Wow,” was Harry’s only reaction to seeing the magnificent sight before him. Crowley pulled both him and Gabriel to the side so they would not be in the way of any other people making their way through the barrier. Out of the three, Crowley was the one who was best able to hide his impressed face at the amount of work that must have gone into making the hidden station what it was; Gabriel and Harry wore matching faces as they took a few moments to take in the sights and sounds.

“I agree, wow. I’ve seen a lot in my years here on Earth, but this is truly an outstanding sight.” Gabriel agreed with Harry.

It was several minutes later after just looking around when they were brought back to the moment and started to say their farewells to Harry. Needless to say, there were many hugs of the bone breaking sort and most definitely not tears on Gabriel’s side, and many loving hugs from Crowley’s side. Harry was quick to reassure them both that he’ll be fine, that Cara will be there with him once he calls for her when he gets settled in, and that he’ll make sure to write often. With that said, Harry took his trunk and pulled it along to the door to enter the Hogwarts Express.

Harry looked up and down the train aisles looking for an empty compartment where he would be able to be alone. The crowds alone that he went through before boarding were enough to drive him crazy. He was used to few people being around him, so the huge amount of people surrounding him was terrible. Yeah, he was fine when they went and got his school supplies because there were actually pockets of space between people so you could actually breathe. Getting onto the Hogwarts Express was a different matter entirely.

He eventually found an empty room on the train where he was able to close the door and be shrouded in silence for once that day. Harry pushed his trunk up onto the shelf and sat down beside the window with his head leaning against the glass. He could softly feel a faint trace of the tendrils of magic that covered the train. They were only bothersome for a minute before his body and magic grew used to them. Before he realized it, his eyes fell shut and he fell into a light sleep. When the door opened and a lonely figure wandered in, Harry was out of it enough that he did not notice.

It was a few hours later when Harry startled awake and came to be aware of where he was located and who was around him. His gaze met that of a bushy, brown haired girl sitting across from him who had a book in her lap. She gave him a small smile and introduced herself.

“Hello, my name’s Hermione Granger – I hope you don’t mind me being in here. Everywhere that I looked so far was full, and this compartment was the most empty. You were already sleeping, so I figured that you wouldn’t want some noisy person coming in here, and I wanted a silent place to read, so…” Harry cut her off before she could continue any further.

“No, I don’t mind at all. A little surprised at first to see you, but, well, I’m Harry McLeod, nice to meet you.” Harry stumbled through his sentence, half from still waking up and the other half to actually talking with a girl for once in his life. Hermione put out her hand, and Harry shook it in welcome.

“So, Harry, what year are you in? This is my first year, and I am ever so excited about it! I couldn’t believe it when I got my letter and found out that I’m a witch. My parents were so surprised when they saw it too!” Harry gave a small laugh that he disguised as a cough before answering.

“Yeah, I’m a first year too. My dad already knew of this world, and he’s told me the little bit that he knows about it, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise when my letter came.” To get the conversation away from himself, Harry asked a question that was sure to get the excitable girl talking for a while.

“So what are you most excited about for this upcoming year?” Hermione’s eyes widened as she dove into telling him all about what she learned about so far from reading this book, and what she can’t believe from that book. She talked about all she knew about Hogwarts and the rumors that she has already heard about the teachers. It was in the middle of her description of the Great Hall when they were interrupted by someone at the door of their train cabin. The door slid open and in walked in two red heads that appeared to easily be twins.

“Why hello, little firsties, how are you two doing on this fine, lovely day?” the one on the left asked.

“How’d you know that we are first years?” Hermione questioned.

“Cause we can hear you talk about anything that has to do with everything out in the hallway. My brother and I just could not resist coming in here to welcome the new students of Hogwarts.” the redhead on the right answered.

“Oi, brother, we haven’t introduced ourselves.”

“Aye, you’re absolutely correct!” It was like watching a tennis match the way the conversation went from one of them to the other.

“Well then, I’m Fred, and this here is my brother, George!” Fred pointed to the guy on the left.

“Umm, hi. My name is Hermione Granger, and this here is Harry McLeod.” Hermione answered for both of them.

“McLeod, doesn’t that sound Scottish, Fred?”

“Why, yes it does George. So we have a Scotty-boy here with us, eh?” Harry rolled his eyes at their antics and tried to clear up his lineage.

“I’m not Scottish,” he was interrupted by the brothers before being able to continue.

“So he _does_ speak. Well, look at that!” joked George as he elbowed his brother. They shared a laugh at the look of irritation that they were given by Harry.

“I was adopted, and McLeod is my father’s last name.” he was finally able to point out.

“Ah, that explains it. So, Scotty-boy, how excited are you about going to Hogwarts?” Fred asked with a smile on his face. In fact, it seemed like all the two twins did was smile and joke around. Harry shrugged his shoulders and gave a small reply.

“Could be fun. I know that Hermione here seems to be a lot more excited than I am.” And with that, Hermione was brought into the conversation once more, and the twins seemed to focus their attention on her as she talked about a lot of what Harry had heard previously. Harry was able to give a sigh of relief as he was finally able to relax once more.

Fred and George ended up leaving the room with the excuse that they had to go find their younger brother who was also a first year – of course being the older brothers, they absolutely _had_ to go find him and embarrass him. Hermione and he said their goodbyes to the twins, and the compartment was silent once more as soon as the door slid shut.

“Well, they seemed fun.” was Hermione’s only line after the two had left their room, and she picked up her book once more leaving silence as it was. Harry was grateful for small miracles. He did not know if he would’ve been able to last with the constant talking any longer than what went on.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Before they knew it, it was time for them to change into their school robes. Harry pulled down Hermione’s trunk for her, and then pulled his own down too. Hermione opted to go to find the loo, which allowed Harry to change in private. A few minutes later Hermione returned, and Harry offered her the same courtesy. He figured that it wouldn’t hurt to go see who was wandering about, so he started walking down the train corridor.

He walked by at a slow gait, hands in his pockets. As he walked past the different compartments, Harry gazed inside and saw the students who were excited for the upcoming school year. All were of different ages – some clearly first years and others old enough to be in their last year at Hogwarts. Some of them were quietly reading – similar to how Hermione was when he woke up – others had their belongings strewn about the benches while also snacking on treats and goodies from the trolley.

“Hey, Scotty-boy! Come on over here!” Harry heard a voice yell from behind him, causing him to turn around and see who it was, though he had a pretty good idea of who it was. Or at least he had a good fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. When he looked in the direction of the voice, he saw the twin red heads that he saw from before.

“I’m not Scottish!” was Harry’s reply as he began to walk towards them, curious as to what they wanted him for. He wasn’t sure if he should be wary of the giant grins that they gave him or not. They opened the cabin door they were standing beside, and motioned him to enter. He didn’t enter at first, paranoid enough after what he has been through before, though he did stop before the door to see what they were up to. He didn’t think they knew about him in just the small amount of time that they talked with him, but one could never be too careful.

Deciding to trust them, he stepped into the cabin and allowed the door to close behind him as Fred and George followed behind.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry exited the cabin that Fred and George brought him to, and he could only shake his head at the events that took place moments before. He smiled, and knew that he would most definitely be thinking about what they asked him. Walking back into his cabin, he found Hermione still there with a book in her hands and several more to the side of her on the seat. When she noticed him, a smile grew on her face and she sat up straighter.

“Harry! I can’t believe I forgot to ask you earlier, but I wanted to look at your wand! I was just reading about a lot of the differences between them, and I haven’t had the chance to look at someone else’s and compare it to how mine is…” Harry took his wand out of the leather holster he had strapped to his wrist, hidden from sight, and handed it to Hermione without a second thought. She took the wand and picked hers up as well, showing that Harry’s wand was slightly longer than her own, and also somewhat darker.

“English oak with kelpie hair, 11 inches.” Harry said before she could ask.

“Kelpie hair? I read that they’re a type of water demon, native to Britain and Ireland.” Hermione stated, seemingly proud of knowing about the magical creature as she admired the designs etched around the handle of the wand. Harry nodded, and thought back on when he first held this wand.

(Flashback)

Crowley and Harry entered Ollivander’s Wand Shop, and Harry could most definitely feel the magic surrounding them from all the different types of wand cores. They took a few minutes looking around the shop before the owner came into view from the back. He was old with tangled white hair and pale eyes. A worn in jacket was on his back with clothes that were similar in state underneath.

“Welcome to my shop, I have to say that I’ve never seen you two in here before. I’m Mr. Ollivander, and who are you?” Ollivander asked Harry as he walked towards them, an air of mystery surrounding him.

“Harry McLeod, sir.” Harry politely replied.

“You going to be starting your first year I’m guessing?” Ollivander asked as he pulled out a measuring tape that began to measure different parts of Harry’s body. Harry nodded as he glared at the tape curling around his leg before sliding down to his feet, much to Crowley’s amusement. Ollivander disappeared behind one of the shelves filled with boxes and came back with an armful of them. He placed them on the lone chair standing in the room and handed one to Harry.

“Hawthorn wood, 10 inches with unicorn hair.” As soon as Harry touched the wood, he drew his hand back as if he touched a hot coal. Ollivander cocked his head with a curious look in his eyes, and then grabbed a different box.

“Mahogany, 11 inches, dragon heartstring.” Harry picked it up, but only a few lazy sparks fell from the tip. It was snatched away from him and immediately replaced with a different wand. Several wands later, Ollivander pushed yet another wand into Harry’s hands.

“Holly wood, 11 inches, phoenix feather core.” Ollivander seemed to hold his breath as Harry held up the wand, but nothing spectacular happened, only a weird feeling rose within the half demon.

“It seems to want to be with you, but something is holding it back… Very interesting – I never had that happen before.” The wand maker hesitantly took back the wand he just handed over and replaced it with several more before they came to _the one_.

“English Oak, kelpie hair core, 11 inches.” Harry picked it up, and a feeling of completeness crawled down his spine and filled him with a mix of warmth and coldness, but it felt completely _right_. A brilliant green light emitted from the tip of the wand that he was holding, and it looked like their search was over.

“Kelpie hair is not seen as a very strong wand core, but with certain people it works wonders. It is strange that it would take so greatly to a wizard such as you since it is from a low level water demon. And even odder still is what type of wood was used to build this wand. It is rumored that Merlin’s wand was made of English Oak.” Harry had tuned out Ollivander’s comments and was drowning in the feeling of love that could rival how he felt when he was with Gabriel and his dad. It was Crowley who was being the responsible one and connecting the dots between what Ollivander was saying and why the wand may have been paired with Harry so well.

(End flashback)

Just as Harry was brought back to the current time, there was an announcement that they were about to arrive at Hogwarts. Hermione handed him back his wand and was practically bouncing in her seat. They looked excitedly at each other as the Hogwarts Express was pulling to a stop, and in a matter of minutes they were standing outside with the other first years that were being separated from the rest of the students.

They were being called to stand beside a rather large man who they learned was Hagrid, and they were soon in boats down on the lake. Hermione and Harry were joined by two other first years who introduced themselves, but their names were soon forgotten in favor of taking in the scenes around them.

The boats jerked forward away from the shore, and they were gliding along the top of the water under the cloudless night sky. The fleet of first years went through the bends and curves until finally the majestic castle came into view. Gasps came from those who had never seen the old castle in any way, and even then it was still a magnificent sight to see. They came to a stop at the underground docks and exited the boats, still straining their necks to try and see as much as they could of the new scenery.

Hagrid led them up the slippery stairs and out to the entrance of Hogwarts. Soon they all had entered the castle and a feeling of serenity fell over them. Harry and Hermione shared a smile as they looked at each other at the amazing sights before them. They all continued until the magnificent wooden doors leading to the Great Hall were in front of them. Amid the bustle and excitement of the night, Harry and Hermione had been separated, but Harry did not worry.

They had yet to open to reveal what was behind them to the young children waiting impatiently in the hall. While many of the first years were anxious and fidgety from standing in one place for several minutes, to them it seemed like an eternity. Harry stayed towards the back of the group with his back resting against the wall. He was successful in making himself seem invisible to everyone around him – perfectly content to just watch everyone and not be involved in any conversations – except a certain girl just _had_ to find him. She saw where he was standing, joy filled her eyes, and she bounded over to stand beside him.

“Hey, Hermione.” was all he offered up when she was within hearing distance.

“Harry! I was looking all over for you! Are you excited to be sorted finally and find out what house you’ll be put in? I figure that I’ll be fine with any house, though I’ve heard bad things about Slytherin. I promise to not hate you if you’re not in the same house as I am; I’ve heard that house rivalries are deep here. That’s just stupid,” Hermione continued on without even letting Harry answer her question, though to be honest, he was perfectly content to just sit back and listen to her talk. “Why would you hate someone who is in a different house? That is nothing to base friendship on. You never know who someone truly is until you talk with them; you can’t just go off and judge someone by where they’re from…” she trailed off with a frustrated look on her face. Harry noticed this, and decided that he didn’t want one of the few who actually put up with his silent demeanor to stop talking, and thus causing him to actually talk. So, he gave a simple question that he hoped would spur the girl to talk until they were allowed into the Great Hall.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. I shouldn’t let it bother me – you would think that I am used to the teasing by now. I overheard some of the other girls talking about me, and, well, they did not have many nice things to say.” Harry gave her a sympathetic smile, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her to face him. He saw that her eyes began to turn red as she did her best to control her emotions.

“Hey now, don’t listen to what they are saying. They don’t know how brilliant and beautiful you are. Though I may not be into your type, I still think that you are a stunning sight.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione pulled away slightly and gave him a weird look.

“Well, I may be into blokes a bit more, but anything could change.” Harry felt that telling her the truth at that moment would be better than leading her on – something that Gabriel tried to teach him a while ago when the angel took him to a bar for lunch. It was an interesting day with Gabriel to say the least. Before their conversation was able to continue, Professor McGonagall came walking towards them, and the children parted to let her walk up to the giant door.

“Will all of you follow me in a single file line? I expect you all to be on your best behavior and to do what we tell you to do. If I catch any one of your misbehaving, then you _will_ receive detention. I expect that none of you would appreciate starting your first year at Hogwarts that way. Do I make myself clear?” She sternly looked over the small crowd of first years before turning to the doors and pushing them open.

The shadowy hallway was immediately shrouded in a bath of golden light, and the sound of chatter filled the air. They began to follow the strict professor into the Great Hall where their awed faces were on display for the rest of the school to view.

“After you,” Harry said to Hermione with his had outstretched in front of him. She gave him a smile, and Harry followed after her into the brilliantly decorated room. Candles were floating everywhere, and the ceiling above was covered in what looked to be a starry night. Four long tables were clearly seen to be stretching the length of the hall, and the professors were sitting behind the table on the raised platform at the far end of the room. The sound of gasps and awe were heard coming from the first years as were comments saying that they read about it in some book that Harry didn’t care to catch the name of.

On the inside, Harry was thrilled to see all of this magic; he was absolutely overjoyed at seeing all of these wondrous sights. But on the outside, his calm and collected exterior stayed strong with only the smallest of smiles playing on his lips as he too looked around. It was truly a breathtaking sight. He wished that his dad or Gabriel would have been there with him so they could get the chance to see this, but he figured that sometime while he was here there would be an occasion for them both to come see the school.

Harry took a quick look at the professors at the head table and made the internal first judgments on them: who would be awesome, who would be terrible, and who would just be another teacher to him. It was only then when Harry noticed the three legged stool that had an old, raggedy hat placed on top. He could tell that several of the students were relieved at only needing to place a hat on to be sorted, though he figured that his dad would never approve of him wearing such a nasty hat. Just as he wondered how the simple hat would be sorting them, it started to move, and what appeared to be a mouth opened and began to sing.

 

  
“Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can top them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a steady mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!” (PS).

Harry could only gaze with a perplexed look at the hat as he wondered how people could think that a hat deserved to be applauded. His thoughts continued on as the first few students were starting to be called forward so they could be sorted. He looked on in interest as Hermione was called forward, and the old piece of cloth was placed on her head. It seemed to swallow her head whole, her knuckles white as she gripped the sides of the stool hard. After what seemed like several minutes passed by, the hat finally came to a decision and yelled it out for the whole school to hear.

“GRYFFINDOR!” The table of the house that was called gave their customary applause at gaining a new house member. Harry could see Hermione smile as she quickly made her way down the few steps and to an empty spot at the Gryffindor table.

Many more names were called before his name was, and the majority of them seemed to go to any house except for Slytherin. He could easily tell what the least favorite house was, and he honestly did not care what house he was sorted into. Finally, McGonagall’s voice called out,

“McLeod, Harry!” Harry stepped forward and walked up to the stool with the nasty hat on it. _Honestly,_ Harry thought, _it must be unsanitary to have every kid here wear this hat. I hope that they at least clean it every once in a while._

He sat down, and the Sorting Hat was placed upon his head. His vision went dark as the front brim dipped down to cover his face. A hand went up to fix the hat, but it was no use. It seemed like it was destined to eat his head. Seconds after the Sorting Hat was placed on his head, a voice sounded in his mind.

“Ah, who do we have here? Everyone may know you as Harry McLeod, but I can see who you truly are.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you? Cause if you did, I may have to do everyone a favor and burn you. That would probably be a great way to get rid of any lice or grime that you’ve picked up over the years,” Harry thought back. He could hear the hat laugh in his mind before replying.

“I’ll keep your secret, and I’m charmed to stay clean, so you don’t need to worry about anything, Mr. Potter.”

“It’s McLeod now, Hat, not Potter. Get it right.” was Harry’s immediate response.

“Ooh, you’re a feisty one now, aren’t you? And what do we have here? You’re not fully human. Now would you look at that. Never in all my years of sorting have I come across someone like you.” The old voice continued to talk in his mind, but Harry oddly enough did not really mind him, it, finding these things out since he was sure the Sorting Hat wouldn’t dare rat him out after his threat and after finding out what he was.

“A dark one, but still with some innocence of a young child. I’m surprised, happy, but surprised that you’ve kept at least that small bit… Ah. That would do it. You have wonderful guardians looking after you.” The hat seemed to go on forever in his search to decide where to place Harry.

“Any chance that you could hurry this up? I can feel the school getting impatient,” Harry commented much to the displeasure of the Sorting Hat.

“Things like this take time, young grasshopper. You need to learn to be patient. Yes, you would do well there. With your recent upbringing you would do a lot better in that house more than any of the others. Cunning and mischievous from that angel of yours, and full of darkness and fire from your new dad. Very interesting indeed. It was obvious from the start where I should place you.”

“Then why didn’t you sort me once you had it figured out then? It has to have been several minutes by now!” exclaimed Harry in his mind. Again, an old laugh was heard.

“Cause you’re too much fun to play with! Many of the other students who come sit on this stool are too intimidated, scared, or stuck up to actually appreciate what I have to say. You are definitely a fun one to talk to – you should come by during the school year so we can talk more. It’s not every day that I get the chance to talk with a half demon!” Before Harry was able to give any sort of reply, the Sorting Hat shouted out what house he would be placed in.

“SLYTHERIN!” The hat was finally taken from his head, and Harry walked to where the Slytherin house was sitting. There was the customary applause, and Harry was finally able to find a free space to sit down by a few of the other first years that were sorted here. None of them introduced themselves as they all were focusing on the last few who were being sorted.

_Must be excited for the food, silly humans…_ Harry thought as he glanced down at the empty plates and glassware placed in front of them on the table, stomach grumbling in agreement. He let his mind wander as he had no interest in the other first years yet to be sorted. Before he knew it, the headmaster was calling for their attention. Professor Dumbledore had stood up and raised his hands in the air as he gave his opening speech that only encompassed four words.

"Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak." Professor Dumbledore brought his hands down, and suddenly the tables were covered with food from all sorts of cultures. Being partially demon, Harry did not care much for the food set before them. Sure, he dished out a few morsels of the food laid out onto his plate and filled his goblet with water, but he did not find that he was as famished as the children surrounding him, but he was hungry enough for a few bites.

The night went on, he talked with a few of the other first years and older students, but Harry mostly only took the time to observe those around him. He could easily sense the few who seemed to contain a sort of darkness within them, and who were not fully human. Though none of them were close to his level of being nonhuman. Sure, a few had a trickle of veela or werewolf in them, but the majority of them had not a clue about it. It was not strong enough in their blood to cause any changes in them, but it was quite interesting and a small form of entertainment for Harry to sense the small percentage of creature in a few of his classmates.

Eventually the feast came to an end, and the first years were instructed to follow the prefects to the common rooms of their house. Harry just so happened to catch Hermione’s eye, and she gave him a small wave of goodbye and goodnight. He gave a small wave in return, and went to follow the prefects who were already walking away.

Harry remained at the back of the small group of first years intending to be alone and just looking around the ancient castle, but it seemed that he was not supposed to do that if fate had her way. Not even past the first few turns to make their way down to the dungeons, a blonde haired boy fell back to be by his side. Harry tried ignoring him, but it was no use. The boy was persistent; he even held out his hand and introduced himself.

“Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy. What’s your name?” Harry angled his head to glance at the boy – Draco – and brought his hand up from the side. No sense in keeping himself isolated from the crowds forever. He supposed that making a few allies couldn’t hurt; after all, he did intend to stay at Hogwarts for all seven years before returning to America and helping his dad with the family business or something. You know, killing people, making deals – the family business. Harry gripped Draco’s hand in a firm handshake, and introduced himself to his fellow first year.

“I’m Harry McLeod. Nice to meet you.”

“McLeod? I’ve never heard of a wizarding family with that name. You a mudblood or something?” Draco seemed to have a genuinely curious look in his eyes, and so Harry answered back.

“I’m from America, so that may be why.”

“But yet you don’t have an American accent…”

“My parents lived here before they were killed when I was younger. I grew up here for several years, then moved to America with my dad who adopted me. I took on his last name, so that may be why you may not recognize it.” Harry decided to stay close to the truth rather than make up a whole new story.

“Ah, makes sense. So this dad of yours, he a wizard?” Harry gave Draco a look before answering.

“No, what’s it to you?”

“Nothing. Just curious about you. That’s all…” Draco seemed to be slightly put out at the harsh tone that came from Harry, but still remained by his side despite it.

“Enough about me, what about you? I practically told you my life story, so what’s yours?” At that, Draco seemed to perk up a little bit before launching into his history, who his parents were, and everything and anything Harry could want to know – and some things he maybe did not want to know – about him. Draco reminded him of Hermione with the way they could go on talking forever if given the chance. That made a small smirk come across Harry’s face. The blonde seemed to be one who was all for the bias based on what house you were in, so he figured that Draco would not be amused by his comparison. They continued walking side by side until the group came to a stop in front of a stone wall within the dungeons of the castle.

The prefect who was leading them described how the entrance worked, and proceeded to tell them the password needed to get in. A passageway was revealed to them, and they all filed through the narrow doorway.

The first years all piled inside the Slytherin common room that would be a part of their home while they stayed at Hogwarts. Harry looked around and took in the sight, familiarizing himself with the surroundings. There was a large fire burning in a fireplace directly ahead of the door. To the left were two staircases that lead to other places and to the right were several tables with chairs set up around them. Book cases adorned the walls around the tables with books and various supplies stacked on them. Around the fireplace were several black, leather couches with equally black pillows. There were mahogany tables variously placed between the chairs and couches, and all in all, Harry felt at home there. The dark, yet elegant décor made him think of Crowley’s decorating style: black with hints of silver and a bare minimum of color.

The prefect in charge was quick to inform them that the boys’ dormitories were through the left staircase, and the girls’ were on the right. He let them know how the stairs branched off depending on what year you were in, and since there were so few first year Slytherins, there would only be two students to a room. The prefect also told them about the rules that they had in the Slytherin house: to be respectful towards each other, be in bed before curfew, and quite a few more that seemed more like common sense than anything to Harry.

Just as the older student was done talking to them, Professor Snape came striding in with his black, billowing robe. Harry was actually surprised when he did not find any trace of vampire in him. The professor pretty much went over the same basic rules that the prefect went over and elaborated on a few. Of course with the way he was talking to them, it seemed that no one would dare misbehave.

“Now then, now that I have those out of the way, I wish to inform you that you may come to me at any time if you are in need of help. I am your Head of House, so you can trust that I will help you in any way that I can. Despite what you may have heard from other students on the way here, Slytherin house is not as bad as they make it out to seem. Remember that. Though we are the smallest house there is, that just makes us all closer as a family, because that is what you are during your seven years here. You will all treat each other as family. If you have any fights with any of your house mates, resolve the conflict here in the common room, not out there where the other houses could see. You will all put any differences aside while you are here. I know that some of you may have biased views against others, but don’t let that come in the way against making acquaintances with your fellow students in this house. You never know who you may ask for help in a time of need. If any of you have any questions, you can come see me in my office or ask a prefect or older student. They would be more than happy to help you. I expect that I will see you all rested and ready for when classes start on Monday. Be punctual and organized. I will not tolerate laziness in my house.” With that said, Professor Snape walked out of the room and left the students to their own devices.

Draco was still by Harry’s side, and they ended up sitting on one of the couches by the fire talking with each other late into the night after they found out where their room was in the dormitories. To Draco’s delight, and kind of to Harry’s as well, they found that they were placed in the same room.

Their four poster beds were similar to the color scheme found in the common room. Both had a dark green comforter with black sheets. Their pillows were also black with a silver stitching design down the left side. The drapes were of course black with various velvety designs on the fabric. At the foot of their beds were their trunks that had been magically moved from the train to their room.

The floor was a dark wood that was smooth to their bare feet, and the room was lit by several light fixtures that hang down from the ceiling along with the two lamps beside the two beds. The lamps were simple and stood on the bedside tables that were to the right of the beds. All things considered, it was a rather simple room with the dressers placed against the walls and no windows. Just like with the common room, Harry felt comfortable and at home in the dark room.

Just as mentioned before, Harry and Draco stayed up late talking about all sorts of various topics, and Harry found that he quite enjoyed the presence of the talkative blonde. Soon yawns escaped from Draco, so Harry suggested that they go to sleep. So they both made their way to their room and said goodnight to each other. While Draco fell off to dreamland, Harry stayed awake in his bed, mind thinking about all that had happened that day.

It was several more hours later when Harry finally fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

(Flashback to the day after the Dursleys were killed by Crowley)

Professor Dumbledore was sitting silently at the desk in his office doing some paperwork when suddenly Professor McGonagall came bursting in in a frenzy.

“Albus, you must see this! Quick! I…I don’t know how to explain it.” Dumbledore got up from behind his desk to go comfort his friend.

“Minerva, take a breath and tell me what you can.” She did just that as she held onto the back of the nearby chair and did her best to tell the headmaster what the problem was.

“It’s the Harry Potter. He’s missing! I don’t know what to tell you. Ms. Figg reported that she had noticed nothing going on at the Dursleys, so she went and looked in the window after no one answered the door. Albus, I honestly can’t begin to explain what is there. You need to come see the scene for yourself. We made sure to not let the muggle authorities become involved, so the scene is still how it is when it was found.” Minerva finished as she looked at her old friend with tears in her eyes.

Moments later they found themselves at number four, Privet Drive, and Albus walked up to the front door. He turned the knob, and as soon as the door opened, he was assaulted by the iron smell of blood, death, and decay. He raised a hand to cover his nose as he entered the room.

He was instantly given the sight of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley’s shredded bodies lying in a pool of their own sticky blood by the far wall. Bile rose in Dumbledore’s throat, but he was able to force the feeling of vomiting down. Dumbledore stepped closer to the hardly recognizable bodies to get a closer look as to what may have killed them.

He withdrew his wand and cast a silent spell over the bodies to see if any magic was used to kill them. He detected a small trace of a different form of dark magic, but he was unable to figure out the answer as to what caused their deaths. Dumbledore stood up and looked to see McGonagall still standing at the entrance to the house. She seemed to be looking anywhere but where the bodies lay.

The headmaster turned his attention to the body in the kitchen, and his face showed his sadness at learning that not only was Vernon and Petunia killed, but so was their son Dudley. He walked over to the kitchen and leaned down to take a look at the body. Dudley did not appear to be shredded in the same way that his parents were, but it seemed that his death was brought about by the nasty injury to his head.

Dumbledore saw some blood on the edge of the oven and figured that that was how he had gotten the killing blow. He once again took his wand out and did the same to him, and found some of the same traces of foreign magic in him. Looking down again, Dumbledore titled his head at the bloody prints he found on the kitchen tile floor. They looked as if they were dog prints, or at least canine in nature, but that couldn’t be right. Could it? The Dursleys never had a dog, and the prints were too large to be any canine that Dumbledore knew of. He would definitely be looking into what creatures, both muggle and magical, could have left that print.

Dumbledore walked away from the bloody and gory scene and looked to one of his trusted aurors that he had in the ministry. He told the man to make sure that it was cleaned up, and to not let it get out that Harry was nowhere to be found. And as a parting remark, he also told him to make sure that the deaths could be rearranged in a sort of way to not make the muggles question it. From there, the headmaster of Hogwarts walked out the door and down a ways to knock on Ms. Figg’s door.

The old woman answered after making sure a few of her cats were away from the door so they would not be able to escape. She welcomed Dumbledore into her home and offered him some tea. He of course could not refuse, and so they sat down together on the battered old couch and talked. Well, mostly Albus asked some questions and Ms. Figg answered them the best that she could. What Dumbledore learned made his face go pale in horror.

Never in a million years did he think that Harry would be abused by his own flesh and blood. Ms. Figg told him that she tried to tell people about the boy’s abuse, but no one would listen. No one would believe that their savior was being treated like an animal, no, worse than an animal. Animals were given proper food and shelter, but Harry wasn’t given even those.

Nothing could alleviate the pain and remorse Dumbledore was feeling at the loss of the young Potter. No one had any idea where he was, and even the instruments that the headmaster used once back at his office could not find Harry. He shared his concerns with Minerva and Severus after calling them to his office, and both had negative answers as to where the boy could be, but they would keep looking. Dumbledore then had Severus look into the bloody paw prints that were found on the kitchen floor. A nod was given from the potions master before Dumbledore was left once again in silence and thought about the young boy who was missing from their grasp.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a few weeks until the new Hogwarts year was to start, and Dumbledore had Severus join him in his office. Tea and lemon drops were offered, and both were declined.

“Tell me, Severus, do you have any news about Harry?” A strained look was placed on the old man’s face as he recalled the day they discovered that he was missing. It was a look that seemed to always be there whenever he was looking into where the young boy could be.

“No I do not, though I was finally able to come across a few possibilities for the paw prints you asked me about. It has taken a while, but I think I may be onto something here. I think the reason why it has taken so long is because this creature, this monster is not commonly seen around here. They are usually found in America, which leads me to believe that we should maybe look into sending people over there to look for Potter.” Dumbledore nodded and motioned for the other man to continue with his findings.

“There are a few creatures that I feel could have made those prints. I am not a hundred percent sure on the answer, but it makes the most sense. A few of my findings lead to several creatures that could have made the paw prints, but like I said, they would make no sense in being in the Dursley’s household. The one that makes the most sense would be that they came from a hellhound.” Snape paused in his feedback to let the headmaster wrap his mind around what was just said.

“A hellhound? What is that?” Dumbledore tentatively asked, not sure if he would like the answer given to him next.

“A hellhound is a creature that is controlled by demons. It is a dog like beast that drags souls to Hell. So if I am correct in this, then I believe that the Dursley house was attacked by a demon with its hellhound.”

“Do we know for sure yet if Harry was there or not when it happened?” Albus questioned, definitely not wanting to think of the possibility of the boy being in the hands or control of a demon. “And what do you know about demons, Severus?” he added as an afterthought.

“Sir, it’s been years. I’m sure if someone had a definitive answer to that they would let you know. And I know very little about these dark creatures, and with the school term about to start, my research will be limited. Odds are that I’ll be needing to go to America do get any valuable information, and I will not be able to do that until Christmas break at least. If I may say so myself, sir, I think it’s time you let him go. We have had no leads or anything. He is probably dead by now since there is no way that he could hide from us for as long as he has – and he doesn’t even know that we are looking for him.”

“No, Severus, I will not give up on him. I made the mistake once of not keeping an eye on him, and look what happened. _When_ we find him, alive, I will make sure he is kept safe. Now, I’m sorry about keeping you from getting ready for your classes, Severus, but I do appreciate what you have done for me. You may go.” Severus nodded and left the room to go back down to his office to work on his teaching plans for the upcoming year – the year that Potter would be coming to Hogwarts if they knew where he was if he even was alive. Snape figured that was the reason why the headmaster was getting anxious about finding the boy even more than usual.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The night following the opening feast of the new school year, Dumbledore had both Minerva and Severus join him in his office. He offered them both tea and a bowl of lemon drops to which they both accepted the tea, but only Professor McGonagall accepted the lemon drops – she took one and gently placed it in her mouth. Both of the professors watched as their old headmaster gazed out the window for a few minutes before returning to take is seat behind his desk.

“I want to thank you both for coming here; I know that after the opening feast that you would probably wish to retire to your bed chambers than be here to listen to the ramblings of a tired, old man.” His face had that tiredness back to it – any cheer and warmth from addressing and welcoming the school earlier was all gone. Only one thing could possibly be on his mind, and the two professors knew what this conversation would be about.

“Albus, now do not go and talk about how Harry’s disappearance and the Dursleys being murdered was your fault. No one could have known what was happening to him in that house, so you have to stop beating yourself up about it!” Professor McGonagall practically yelled at her superior. Severus only raised an eyebrow at her outburst.

“As much as I would hate to admit this, but Minerva is indeed correct. If Potter was able to be reached, then he would have gotten a letter of acceptance here. “

“Then what am I to do, Severus?” Dumbledore locked his gaze with his potion master’s eyes, and an idea came to him. “What if Harry managed to escape, and was instead brought up with a different name?!” He stood up in the excitement of the prospect of the child possibly at his school. What Minerva had to say next brought the excitement down a few notches, but did not get rid of it completely.

“You honestly expect it to be that easy? There are many first years, and only a few with the first name of Harry. None of them looked like they could be him. And I’m sure that if he was able to go by another name, he would not stick with the one he originally was given.” Dumbledore sighed.

“I suppose that you are correct, but there still is a chance that Harry Potter is here at this school. Can I trust you two to be on the lookout for anyone who may be him?” With a nod from both of them, he continued, “With how he was brought up in the Dursley house hold, then I am sure that he will be one to keep to himself. Honestly, I believe that he will be a broken boy, so if any of the first years seem to match the background of potentially having been abused, I want to see them.”

Both Severus and Minerva had been filled in a long time ago about the state that Harry was in while under the care of Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Minerva was of course shocked and appalled at the terrible treatment that Harry went through, but Severus felt that everyone was exaggerating what happened. The only one they were able to talk to in order to get their information was Ms. Figg, and Severus rather doubted some of what the old, senile woman had to say to them. But he would continue to do as the headmaster had asked of him since he was rather curious himself. He wanted to know what had become of the Potter brat; though he would never let anyone know of that of course. He had to keep his dislike and uncaring nature for the child strong to keep up appearances or people would think he was starting to go soft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is all I have posted so far (as of 10 February 2013), but the next chapter should be up soon~ I do have a poll on my fanfiction.net account that I would love you to go vote on since I'm curious about what you think. My ffn account has the same penname, and the story is the same too.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Blood Doesn't Make Family  
> Rating: T  
> Spoilers: End of season 5, stuff from season 6  
> Warnings: Just refer back to previous warnings.  
> AN: I can assure that the long break between updates has been because of how busy I've been with life at the moment. I've hardly had any time to actually write, otherwise this chapter would have been posted a lot sooner. I've had IB stuff, end of high school stuff, college stuff, and FIRST Robotics build season and competitions stuff. I am so, so sorry for the wait. Plus, I also had to spend a bit of time reevaluating some of the plot lines, how it all will fit together, and all that technical stuff. And thank you to my best friend pumpkinless who deals with my constant questioning of "have you edited it yet?" on a daily basis once I send the chapter to her.

 (A few months after Harry thanks Bobby and Castiel)

Dean looked over from where he was seated in the Impala to his brother to see Sam deep in thought. Though it was not rare to see the younger of the two engrossed in contemplation, he seemed especially pensive at this point in time.

“What’s on your mind?” Sam looked towards his brother, then back out the window to see the landscape passing by. They were currently on their way back towards Bobby’s place after their quick hunt for a few vampires that were terrorizing a nearby city. And by nearby, it was several hours away. Sam sighed before uncrossing his lengthy legs to reposition himself in the seat.

“I’ve just been thinking a bit more about Harry and all that he is.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dean questioned as he swerved slightly to avoid a pothole in the deserted road. They were currently the only ones on the road for as far as they could see – though they did occasionally pass another car going the opposite direction. Dean loved the times like these, just his baby, his brother, his hand resting outside the opened window, and no cops around to pull him over for speeding.

“Well, I’ve just been thinking more about who he was before Crowley adopted him. We honestly don’t know anything else about him, and Cas isn’t giving up any information either. I guess that the lack of not knowing is what is driving me mad right now. The more I think about it, the more I grow curious about what his life was like before. I dunno, I mean I know that it’s his personal business, but I just want to know more.” Sam used his hands to emphasize what he was saying, and Dean quirked an eyebrow.

“It would be weird if you didn’t want to know more about him, I mean, I’m curious too, but not as much as you are, college boy.” He smiled at his brother who only gave an irritated look in return.

“Oh just shut up, I know that you’re as curious as I am. The only time we’ve actually been able to talk to him has been the day he came to thank Cas and Bobby, and we’ve never actually seen him since, so we haven’t been able to actually ask him more about it.”

“Yeah, I do know what you mean, and I wish that I knew. What could make Cas take the spawn’s side and not tell us anything? And who would willingly become part demon? That’s just unnatural. You think summoning him would be a good idea?”

“I wouldn’t, not only would Crowley kill us, but I’m sure that Gabriel and Cas would have something to say about that too. They seem rather fond of the guy.” Sam said as he picked at a rip forming on the knee of his jeans.

Dean shrugged and offered a different idea, “What if we sent him a letter? I’m sure that with Cas and Gabriel are keeping in contact with each other, so I’m sure that it wouldn’t be a problem getting it to him.” Sam tilted his head to the side and nodded a bit.

“Yeah, that sounds like a decent idea. I mean, the worst that could happen is that he doesn’t respond, right?”

“Right. So you can write it, since I kinda doubt that he likes me at all.”

“Well, you do call him Spawn, even though he clearly doesn’t like it,” Sam pointed out to his brother who only shrugged in a way to show that he didn’t really care one way or the other.

“Hey, I wonder if Bobby’s found out anything more about him and what he is,” Dean asked, changing the subject just a bit. After all, they hadn’t seen Bobby in several weeks, and the last time the boys saw him, he was knee deep in books he pulled from his personal library – probably in search of any mention of natural magic, wizards, or witches that don’t get their magic from deals with demons.

“Maybe, I know that after being introduced to a new type of supernatural magic, he’s bound to be curious. I just hope that he’s been able to find at least some info since I know that I’m interested to find out more,”

“Here we go with the information.” Dean jokingly interrupted his brother; Sam retaliated by smacking the back of his head. “Hey! I’m driving here…”

“Oh it’s all flatland here, and you’ve been driving long enough not to get into an accident.”

“Well, you never know. A rabbit could have run across the road and caused us to crash!” Dean exclaimed.

“A rabbit? Seriously?”

“You never know!” He repeated. Sam only laughed, and their conversation died out for the time being as Dean concentrated on his driving and Sam delved back into his thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bobby set the leather bound book he was holding down on the table beside him and picked up his glass of scotch. He took a small sip and set it back down with a frustrated sigh. He wiped a hand over his tired face and looked out the window to see the moon high above in the sky.

So far he had been very unsuccessful in procuring information on natural magic users. He already had gone through his whole library of books and soon needed to go call in some favors to get some books that may prove to be helpful. Hell, he was desperate at this point to find out even just a smallest morsel of information on what Harry claimed to be, or at least claimed to partially be. Fully be? The whole mix of things that he was made Bobby’s head hurt when he tried to figure out how the boy could be a full natural magic user, but be part demon. So did that also make him only part human? Or did the natural magic and demon magic cancel out the human part of him, but he still thought and acted like a human…? Bobby learned very quickly that it probably was best not to ponder that line of thought as he figured that maybe one day he’d know the truth. But today was not that day.

He had gotten a call earlier from Sam to let him know that he and Dean would be at the house in a few hours, so the man decided that it was time to get up and actually scavenge for some form of substance that would be safe to eat. He got up and made his way to the kitchen, making sure not to bump or knock over any of the piles of books and journals that littered the ground in piles.

Just as Bobby found some ingredients that would be suitable for a sandwich, a knock came at the front door just seconds before he heard it opening. He peaked around the corner to look to see who was there, and sure enough, it was the Winchester brothers.

~*~*~*~*~*~

(Back at the start of the school year)

Gabriel peered out from between the trees he was hidden behind to take in the sights of the grand castle that lay before him. He and Crowley had taken the time to have a lengthy discussion after Harry had left for Hogwarts, and this was the result of their decision.

(Flashback)

Crowley and Gabriel had just gotten back to the house when the archangel turned towards his friend with the same thoughts on his mind.

“I’m worried about him, and not in the usual sort of way that parents feel when their children go away for the first time.” Crowley nodded his agreement, and walked towards the couch in the living room area. Gabriel followed, but chose to remain standing and favored pacing back and forth before continuing at voicing his thoughts.

“I mean, not only is he now on his own, but he’s on his own in a school full of witches and wizards. How long do you think it will be until someone finds out about him, or worse?” Gabriel continued his frantic pacing. The demon rubbed a hand across his face and sighed.

“I know exactly what you mean; I’m already worried sick about the kid. But there’s nothing I can do since I’m needed here, lots of stuff happening now that Sam is out of the hole without a soul and whatnot.”

“I already told you before that I want nothing to do with whatever shenanigans you have planned,” Gabriel raised his arms and placed his hands over his ears. “But that does not mean that I agree with what you’re planning.”

“But you don’t disagree either.”

“Yeah, cause you’re doing a better job at organizing Hell than anyone else. I just don’t fully approve of what you’re doing with Castiel, but I refuse to choose sides between you two. I’m staying out of it.” The new King of Hell nodded, as they had already discussed before what Crowley was planning, and Gabriel already made his decision to not be a part of it in any way.

“Then I have an idea. Since we both are worried about Harry and you would rather be elsewhere than with me right now, how about you go watch over him at Hogwarts and make sure that he stays safe? You can easily pop back here every once in a while so we can talk, and this way everyone is happy.” Gabriel seemed to be weighing the options, and liked what the options were.

“Should I let him know that I am there or not?”

“Not at first, let him enjoy the idea of being off on his own without us there over his shoulder. But he’ll find out eventually I’m sure, and make sure that you don’t cause too much mischief.” The look that covered the angel’s face next was akin to that of shock.

“Who, me? Get into trouble? That is very not like me at all!” Gabriel grinned, waved his hand, and disappeared from sight much to Crowley’s amusement.

“Yeah, go be the fluffy guardian angel.”

(End Flashback)

Gabriel stayed that way, pondering what he could do, for several minutes before he made the decision to remain invisible and undetectable to anyone around him while he popped into the castle. He landed in what appeared to be the Great Hall, and noticed that it was slowly being emptied out by students who were eager to see where they would sleep for the first time. The archangel looked around a few moments before he spotted who he was looking for. He saw Harry among the other students slowly headed for the doors, and he trailed behind at a distance. Not wanting to seem like such a helicopter parent, he hung back when the children took the direction of what appeared would lead to the dungeons, and opted instead to go explore while everyone was busy getting the first year students settled in their dorms and accustomed to the rules of their respective houses.

The archangel noted where the dungeons were, and began walking through the darkened halls. He spent time looking at some of the different paintings and art pieces that adorned the castle, and he could have sworn that the cat he passed in his travels actually noticed him. Gabriel took the time to peek in several of the rooms, and he most definitely did not place pieces of chewed gum on a few of chairs or glue some of the desk drawers shut.

He took the time to briefly make note of several of the towers before seeing how far into the ground the old castle goes. There were the dungeons and lower classrooms that looked like they haven’t been used in years if the dust layer was anything to go by, and then there were the rooms below the school that were still attached, but obviously have not seen any sort of light for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Gabriel slowly walked around the large, open room before coming to a halt when he could have sworn that he heard a noise. He turned around and the faint sound instantly stopped. The archangel narrowed his eyes in confusion and let his angel blade fall into his hand – just in case. He slowly turned, and the dim sound began again in short bursts with minutes between the barely there, audible noise. Gabriel backed up a bit before deciding to leave for the moment – he would be back later to investigate the sounds further after consulting with Crowley.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The first day of classes went by smoothly for Harry and his newfound friends – Hermione and Draco. Even though he and Draco were in separate Houses than Hermione, he was able to get them to look past their differences to a point where they would actually talk to each other. Soon they found that they greatly enjoyed each other’s company. Even though they didn’t have every single class together, the ones that they did have together were good enough when added to any sort of free time they had between and after classes.

The following weeks went by just as well, and everything was off to an amazing start. No problems came to light, or at least no major issues, arose (except for some of the students complaining about their desk drawers not opening, or gum on their chairs). Harry kept in contact with Crowley and Gabriel by sending letters and received small gifts of treats or small knickknacks every once in a while. The sugary treats he would share with Draco, Hermione, and any of the people sitting around him when he got them. And of course not all of the other gifts were fit to be seen by those around him – since it would definitely cause a scene if one of the other students noticed a new knife with special engravings came in the owl post. He of course hid those sorts of gifts away in his trunk, but kept the knife hidden under the pillow of his bed.

The half-demon then took to exploring the castle during the night or studying since he only had to sleep for a few hours. A drastically less amount than his dorm mates needed. Harry would creep through the staircases and hallways leading around the ancient castle, and he loved the vibes he was getting from focusing on just _feeling_ the magic swirling beneath his fingertips. It has been something that he was able to block out beforehand because of how abundant it is in the castle, a constant variable that soothed his spirit when he was alone and has the chance to focus in on it.

It was when he was walking by the library with his magic freely feeling out when he noticed the strength of it growing. He was able to feel a sort of unseen force urging him to enter, to come see what lay inside. He stopped outside the doorway leading into the library, and was about to enter when he heard a noise. Harry immediately threw himself against the wall, wrapping a few of the shadows around him as well as he could to remain hidden.

It was a new skill that he discovered one day while playing secretly with the same sort of magic he used to create Lasair. Harry was able to maintain a minimal sort of cover with the shadows as long as he didn’t move, and put his all into it. He found that he could comfortably do it once, maybe twice a week if he had to, but it still took a lot out of him. But it was something that he hoped would develop over time since he couldn’t really maintain any sort of invisibility that his father or Gabriel even was able to do.

Harry moved his eyes to look down the hallway both ways, and didn’t see anyone at first. It was with his second look to his left when he saw two glinting eyes low to the ground. Forgetting about not moving, he cocked his head to the side, which let the creature know that he was there. As soon as he moved, he noticed his mistake and silently swore. He looked to see what was there, and let out a sigh. It was only Ms. Norris, the cat that he had successfully avoided – until now. Now that his cover was void, he slowly started to back away, but the cat still followed him.

After a moment, she started to obnoxiously meow and it was only a matter of time before Filch came to his beloved pet to see what naughty student was out after hours. With his luck, Filch was just around the corner, and he thought he was out of ideas of how to safely not get caught when a way suddenly came to him.

He had yet to call for Cara, his faithful Hellhound and friend, to join him at Hogwarts, and what time could be better than now? Harry whistled for his Hellhound, and moments later he saw his friend bounding towards him, tongue rolling from the side of her mouth. Ms. Norris instantly stopped her intimidating meowing, and puffed out when she smelled something similar to a dog.

Cara began to growl a bit when she noticed the cat there, and took a few steps closer to the puffed out cat. The two stayed in that position for several moments before Ms. Norris turned tail and ran as fast as she could away from the unfamiliar hound. Cara chased after with Harry telling her to not kill the cat or injure her in any sort of way, or at least tried to convey that message the best he could while doubled over with laughter.

Regaining his composure, he called for Cara to come back, and decided that he had enough adventure for the night, and that he’ll further explore later. Maybe even venture into the library to explore where the mysterious force was coming from at a different time. It was getting closer to the morning at this time, and he hoped that he would never have to deal with a dorm mate asking where he was when they woke up to find Harry’s bed empty.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 “Severus, I’m glad you were able to make it so quickly!” Dumbledore exclaimed as soon as the potions master entered the Headmaster’s office.

“Of course, what is it that you wish to discuss with me?”

“At first I thought it was just a fluke, now I have reason to believe that it’s true. The dark creature detectors that I have here have been lightly going off since the year started, and I have no idea who is causing them to react this way. I know that it’s not a werewolf, veela, or vampire of any sort since I would recognize the creature signatures that the detectors give off. I’m afraid that it is something that we have not encountered here at Hogwarts, and the children may be in grave danger. The mind races to think that it has a similar connection to what we found at the Dursley’s home – this is why I want you to be extra vigilant in your classes and let me know if you notice anything or anyone out of the norm.  I think that it would be safe to say that your focus should be with the first years, but don’t exclude the other years just because we haven’t had these sort of readings before.”

“What do you mean, Albus?”

“I can decipher two different creature signatures from these readings, one of which has been fading in and out over time. Do your best, my boy, and keep me informed.” Severus nodded in answer, and took his leave from the room.

After the potions professor left, Dumbledore took another look at the detectors resting on his desk. He saw the two that were there before – the constant one and the one that wasn’t always there – and then noticed something strange. There was the faintest trace of a third mysterious creature unlike the other two. That did nothing to ease any sort of worry the headmaster had for his students.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 (Time Leap)

Harry and Draco walked side by side down to the dungeons after they finished eating their breakfast, and like always, Draco was doing most of the talking.

“So what do you think that we’ll be doing today in class, Harry?” Draco asked after he finished his description of what his father had sent him in the mail earlier that week. Harry shrugged his shoulders and gave his honest reply.

“I really don’t know, it could be anything. But I do have one good guess at what we’ll be doing,” he said with a sly grin to his friend. Draco’s eyes widened just a little bit as he begged Harry to tell him. Internally Harry was laughing, but he only let a small smirk appear on his face. His blonde friend did not seem to pick up on it.

“Oh, come on, Harry! Please tell me!”

“You really want to know?”

“Of course.”

“I bet that we will be making a potion of some sort.” Draco’s only response to that was to hit his fist against Harry’s shoulder as the dark haired one laughed at his friend’s misery.

“Why do you want to know what we’re doing in class anyways? You’ve never been this curious before about it.” Harry looked over at his friend as they turned to go down the stairs to the dungeon area.

“Apparently Professor Snape was talking with my father recently, about what I have no idea, but I did catch a bit of their conversation – enough to believe that we will be doing something new in class!”

“Don’t we always do something new in class?”

“Oh, you know what I mean.” By this time they reached the doors to the potions classroom and made their way to sit down in their seats - Hermione already sat in her spot beside them.

Draco was correct in thinking that they were to be doing something new in class not usually in the curriculum, but it was not that day. It was a few days later when they walked side by side into the classroom and were told by Professor Snape what they would be doing.

“Today we will be working on a new potion that I believe should become a part of the curriculum. And if everything goes well, I believe that the headmaster will agree with me.” He paused for a moment as he surveyed the group of first years all looking at him with their small, innocent eyes.

“The potion that you all will be working on today requires a tool that you all do not have, but I have my own supply that you will be using.” Professor Snape continued to explain what the potion was, and what it would do. Harry did not fully pay attention to what was being said to them because his eyes were focused on the objects that were sprawled about on Professor Snape’s desk.

Iron.

Iron stirring rods.

Iron stirring rods that would no doubt burn his hands if he picked them up.

Harry tried not to let his discomfort show to Draco or Hermione who were sitting beside him, but he did not have to worry. The other first years seemed too enthralled on what Professor Snape was saying and talking about that he took no notice at all of the uneasiness and shifting in his seat that Harry was doing.

 _Do I have any gloves in my bag?_ Harry thought about his belongings that he had with him currently. For a moment he thought he did, but there would be no reason for him to have his leather gloves. Though it was around fall time, it was still warm enough to not be needing gloves outside. So the struggle continued on inside himself to figure out what he could do.

He obviously could not ask to leave by claiming that he was sick, that would bring way too much attention to himself since they were all just at breakfast and clearly saw that he was perfectly healthy. He also could not ask to go use the loo since it was just after breakfast, and Professor Snape would not allow it. As far as Harry was concerned, he was stuck. Before he knew it, the students around him began to stand up and make a line in the front of Professor Snape’s desk to fetch one of the iron stirring rods that they all needed for the potion they were all about to make.

Harry gulped and stood up – still trying not to let any distress show on the outside. He followed behind Draco and Hermione to the back of the line. With his luck, the iron rod would burn his hands and Professor Snape would immediately take him to the headmaster for questioning.

The line slowly dwindled down as the students grabbed one of the iron rods one by one and went back to stand by their cauldrons. No one was standing behind him in line, and it looked like Professor Snape was busy on the other side of the room. The line was shortened down and Draco was now grabbing one of the rods for his own use before walking back to the desk that he, Hermione, and Harry shared. Hermione grabbed one of her own, and gave a smile to Harry as she passed by to go back to the desk.

Harry stepped forward to the desk and looked down at the iron rods innocently laid out there. He took a breath and wrapped his hand around one of them and instantly bit his lip to keep from yelling out at the pain he was now feeling. The low sizzle of his flesh burning was drowned out by the chatter and clatter of the first years talking and gathering supplies.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could have sworn that he saw Professor Snape looking on in interest at the reaction he was having to the iron. But when he turned his head to look for sure, the potions master had his head turned away with his eyes looking down at the students he was watching over. With a sort of relieved sigh, Harry quickly made his way back to the desk beside Draco and almost threw down the iron rod.

He looked down at his hand and saw that it was all red and had a few blisters beginning to form. Harry flexed his hand to see how much it hurt to move it, and was relieved to find that it was not as bad as he thought it may have been. It was only by chance that he saw that he had a cloth stuffed in the side of his bag that he had used a few days ago for some reason or another. Harry nearly gave a shout of joy when he saw it, but managed to stifle it to remain quiet. He leaned over the desk and swiped the cloth from his bag. He came back up and quickly folded it to form a strip that he could wrap around the end of the iron stirring rod.

The dark cloth was carefully tied around the end with minimal discomfort from accidently brushing his hand against the iron, but he ignored the pain and discomfort to relish in the satisfaction that his hand would be saved from the vicious metal. Draco noticed the new attachment that was added as did Professor Snape when he walked around the room to the side where their cauldrons were stationed.

“Mr. McLeod, can you please tell me why you wrapped your stirring rod with the cloth?” came Professor Snape’s cold voice as he came up behind Harry. The first year in mention was able to quickly hide his burnt had under the table as he turned to look at his head of house.

“Well, you see, sir, my hands were starting to get a little sweaty, and I did not want to risk letting it slip from my hand because of it.” Harry was able to effortlessly think on his feet to come up with the lie – he only hoped that Professor Snape would buy it and not figure out that he lied. Professor Snape gave the young boy a look before giving him a reply.

“Very well, McLeod, I suppose that it is good thinking on your part. We would not want for anything to go wrong because of a simple little mishap such as that. But please inform me of your problem in the future before you carry out an action such as this. You may carry on.” Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Professor Snape began to walk away, leaving Harry to his devices of working on his potion. The rest of the potions class then went on smoothly except for a problem that arose on the Gryffindor side of the room, but something like that was bound to happen in this class much to Professor Snape’s displeasure.

The class neared the end, and the students began bottling up their potion samples. Professor Snape also informed everyone that they were all needing to bring their iron stirring rods back up to his desk. So they all once again formed a line and began to carefully set the rods back where they took them from. When Harry reached Professor Snape’s desk, he had the unfortunate luck of the professor standing behind his own desk.

Taking a deep breath, Harry gripped the rod with as little hand as he could as he ripped the cloth off. He let it drop to the desk, and of course was yelled at by Professor Snape.

“McLeod, I would expect better from a Slytherin. You need to be careful with these tools.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll remember that for next time.” Harry walked back to his belongings set by his desk while rubbing his injured hand.

 _I’ll have to send a letter to Dad or Gabriel in hopes that one of them can help me. Maybe Dad has some burn salve or Gabe can stop by secretly and heal it for me._ He thought that he could possibly go see Madame Pomfrey, but that would bring about questions that he didn’t want to answer. He figured that he could say that he burned his hand on a cauldron or something, but that would cause the medi witch to probably have a talk with the potions master, and he would prove him otherwise. And that would most likely bring up the points of how he could possibly have the severe burns on his right hand.

It was the second time when Harry had to grip the iron stirring rod to put it back on Professor Snape’s desk that caused the already injured hand to become much worse. The blisters grew to be larger and the redness of the skin was a nasty shade of red. The skin began to peel back away, and he actually noticed a bit of puss oozing out of several places.

 _That can’t be good._ Harry thought to himself when he was back at the desk. He decided to take the same dark cloth that he had previously wrapped around the iron, and wrap it around his hand. He could only hope that no one would notice it before he had the chance to get it healed. Luckily he didn’t have a class until later, so he would be able to do his best to take care of his hand and pack his gloves into his bag for later if need be.

So the class finished with very little problem, and as soon as Harry exited the room, he took off for his room in the dormitories leaving Draco standing in the hallway wondering what the hell was going on with him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

As soon as his potions class emptied out of the classroom, Professor Snape quickly made his way up to the headmaster’s office. He had important news to share with the older man that could not wait until later. Once he was out of view of anyone in the hallways, Severus broke out into a run to get to the stairs as fast as he could.

After a few minutes, he stood in front of the statue guarding the headmaster’s office entrance. Severus spent a good few minutes guessing the names of different candies until he actually guessed the correct one. In his mind Severus thought that Dumbledore didn’t just have the statues move away when a staff member arrived because he was way too amused at having them say different candy names. Or it could just be him. He never really knew.

Severus walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. Professor Dumbledore’s voice came through the door telling him that he could come in. He pushed the door open and walked in. As usual, the headmaster of Hogwarts was sitting behind his desk working on various paperwork that needed to get done. He looked up when Severus swiftly walked over to his desk with an intense look on his face.

“Headmaster, I have important news to tell you after what happened in my first year potions class today. You know how I brought forth the iron stirring rods for the class?” At the headmaster’s nod, Severus continued. “Well, McLeod seemed to react negatively towards the iron. I watched him when he picked up the material, and he looked like he was in pain. I know of several creatures who are adverse to iron, so I feel that more research is needing to be done, but I feel that this narrows it down significantly from where we were at the start.”

“Do you believe that he may be dangerous to the other students?”

“I do not know what to believe. He seems to not be a danger at this point, but whatever he is, he may just be lying in wait for orders or something else. Like I said, I would prefer to do more research before taking any serious action at the moment.”

“If you had to narrow down your choice, what would you say he is?” Severus took a moment of pause before answering.

“Honestly, headmaster, I think that he may possibly be a demon. When I head over to America for more research during Christmas break, I’ll find out more to help us verify what he is, though I fear that we may be correct in saying that Harry McLeod _is_ being possessed by a demon.” Dumbledore gave a solemn nod with sadness filling his eyes. He could not imagine the pain the child must be in while being possessed.

“Though we may be wrong in assuming so, I agree that we need a lot more information before taking any action against him. But we can’t just let a dark creature run amok with all the children here.” Dumbledore made the decision and agreed with his potions master.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: PLEASE READ THIS EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER YOU READ THE CHAPTER!
> 
> Firstly, please bear with me and this long note, but it does have some important information in it. So, I most definitely did not realize that it has been such a long time since I last updated, but I do have legit excuses. In my life since I last posted was my high school graduation, packing for college, moving into my college dorm, college itself, end of term exams, start of my co-op job, and now end of my co-op job term before moving back to Kettering for my next term which I just started on Monday. I am also going for a Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Physics double major, so a lot of time will be with my studies, as well as being the new president for Dance Club. But I did tell you all that I would never abandon this story no matter what happened. So even if there is a rather large gap in time between updates, it will happen sooner or later. I will try to keep the time shorter between this update and my next update, but I think you know that I don’t always keep with my own hopes of updating soon, but I will try.
> 
> This chapter has been giving me problems – that is why it is so short – but I wanted to post something as a way to let you know that I am not dead. Again, no promises for a quick update after this, but it will be here eventually. Because of how I have been separated from this story for so long so to speak, I apologize if a character’s voice may not be exactly as it was before or if there are any noticeable differences in my writing. This chapter seems to be more of a few snapshots that fit together, but not. You’ll see what I mean.
> 
> I also wanted to add in that MidnightCharm18188 from fanfiction.net is not copying this story with her story “Not Your Typical Home” (which I think is pretty good so far and I’m excited to see where she goes with it), and she did ask me if it was okay if the ideas were similar in nature. So please don’t claim that MidnightCharm18188 is stealing my idea (especially since I had gotten my original idea from several other stories that I’ve read and altered them to make it my own). Thank you to pumpkinless for her editing skills, and also a thank you to MidnightCharm18188 for giving it a read through to see if it made sense because of how both pumpkinless and I have been away from the story for so long.  
> PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR’S NOTE BEFORE OR AFTER YOU READ THIS CHAPTER!

Harry was surprised one day to receive a letter from two of the most unlikely people. It was during the owl post delivery on a weekend when the owl that Gabriel and his father usually use landed in front of him, but the envelope was not made of the same material as the usual letters were made of. It was too normal looking – it was just a plain old white envelope sealed shut with Harry’s address scrawled on the front with a black ball point pen.

He cautiously slid it open and glanced down to see the names at the end to see who it was from. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. So it looked like Tweedledee and Tweedledum were interested in forming some sort of understanding.

_Harry,_

_I know that we got off on the wrong foot, and both Dean and I want to apologize for what we have done to you and said about you in the past. We know that some of our actions were probably uncalled for, but you have to know and understand that Dean and I grew up in this life and have some basic natural reactions to different supernatural related topics. Our reactions related to your kind are usually more negative, and we have had some relations gone sour with demons before. But we do remember what we learned about you and all that you’ve said before, and we are now more curious than anything to learn about you._

_So please consider this letter an apology and an olive branch from both of us to you. We understand if you decide against replying to us, but we do hope that you will consider it. If you ever want to talk, I put one of my cell phone numbers at the bottom of this page, as did Dean. Though it may be the wrong thing to say, but, we both are really curious about you and would love to get the chance to sit down and ask you a few things._

_We gave this letter to Castiel who in turn gave it to Gabriel to send to you. So if you do wish to send any sort of reply, it may be better and faster to send it to Gabriel who can then give it to Castiel to then give to us. Or Gabriel can get it to us directly, whatever works best._

_All the best,_

_Sam and Dean_

To say that Harry was surprised would be an understatement. Well, he thought that they may have tried to contact him in some way, but not in any sort of peaceful way. He decided to slip the letter into his bag to be reread later that night, and dug into his small meal of bacon and eggs before going to a common area to study for an exam later that week.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Throughout his time at Hogwarts, Harry had begun to venture outside in the hours that he was awake and his fellow classmates were asleep. He had always previously stuck to the grounds where students were allowed to go to become more familiar with them first. Now though, a few months into the first term, he decided to finally venture into the Forbidden Forest with a heavy curiosity on his mind and his faithful Hell hound by his side trotting alongside, tongue lolling out of her mouth.

It was during one of these night time ventures that the two of them made a rather unusual discovery. They were walking through a small clearing when Cara bounded off, leaving Harry to chase after her. A few minutes later, the half demon child came across his Hell hound scratching at a patch of moss that was growing innocently to the side of a tree.

“Cara? What do you smell?” There was a heavy tone of questioning clear in his voice as he approached his companion. He knelt down on the ground, brushing his school robe out of the way of his knees hitting the ground. Paws continued to dig and scratch at the moss covered ground slowly revealing the soft and damp dirt underneath.

She continued to paw at the ground furiously until Harry started to see a glimmer of what she may have been digging for. A grime covered silver band was uncovered, and Harry reached a hand to pick it up. Cara made a sound of whining as he picked it up, and it felt faintly warm in the palm of his hand. But the warmth faded and left as he rubbed the dirt sticking to it away. By doing so, his actions revealed strange engraved lines and circles that were intertwined together with dots periodically making an appearance both in and out of the circles.

Harry looked at it weirdly as he rubbed more of the dirt away from it and shined it a bit against the pants that he was wearing. Without thinking, he was about to put it on his left hand index finger when he noticed more details that he missed on the other side that were covered by chunks of dirt that were brushed away. He inspected it closer and saw that there were two hands clasping each other, and that it was not one solid band, but two that had a small hinge that would allow the two hands to unclasp and rotate.

At least that is what Harry figured that it would do if he could get it to open. Not wanting to risk breaking it, and giving it one last brush with his fingers, he slid the ring onto a finger that it looked like it would fit on. Harry stood up and brushed the dirt and leaves that had stuck to his knees off, and after he did so, a warm, wet lick happened on the hand that was wearing the mysterious silver looking ring. He smiled down at Cara and gave her a soft rub on her head.

“How did you know this ring was here? Obviously there is something special about it, otherwise I doubt that you could have noticed a regular ring buried under several layers of dirt and thought to dig it up.” A furry head butted against his leg forcefully, and Harry laughed.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You are the best Hell hound ever and are extremely special.” Harry rubbed her head before taking off in the direction of the castle. The detour with the ring proved to have taken much longer than Harry initially thought it did, and had to rush back to clean off and jump back into bed before anyone noticed that he was gone. Thoughts that raced through his head consisted of the ring and the mystery that surrounded it. It could not just be by chance that Cara found it for him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry was wandering the halls one night as silent and sneakily as he could, a pastime that he grew to greatly enjoy. All throughout the year he had yet to be caught once, and he’ll be damned if he gets caught tonight; or any night for that matter. He finally decided to take the plunge and see what he could do about getting into the Restricted Section in the library. He could practically _feel_ the darkness and life radiating off of a few of the books the last time he was close to the section, and he was determined to get a closer look at them.

He crept silently along into the library, and easily made his way through the dark to the part he had in mind. Harry placed a hand against the metal grate that was used as a barrier and slid his hand along until his fingers came to a rest on the lock. Pinpricks of magic seemed to move on the underside of his hand, and Harry grinned at the life he could feel coming from the inside.

Concentrating on what was before him, Harry willed the lock to open with his magic. After a few moments, the satisfying _click_ of the metal opening was heard, and the half demon was able to make his way inside the new room. Harry looked around at all the old books lining the walls, and he could feel some of them calling out to him – almost as if there was enough magic infused within them to make them seem alive.

There is the saying that books can make you feel alive, and that was certainly the case with Harry in this room – though maybe not in the normal sense of the saying. To Harry it almost felt like the dark magic was swirling around him, calling him to come forth and be welcomed into what these books had to offer. It was a brilliant feeling, and Harry gave off a smile as he closed his eyes and let the magic embrace him. Embrace him instead of turning him away like many other students who dared try and enter into the Restricted Section. While the books would not cooperate with any of the other students, they would most absolutely welcome the half demon to read their pages – if he could survive and get past the dangers that tested those who dared open them.

Harry sat down on the small bench in the center of the small room and grabbed one of the nearest books on the shelf in front of him; skimming the cover it looked like it was about some ancient war. Beginning with that book began the night that would then find the young child coming down in the dark whenever he could to get lost in the pages that called out to him and made him feel at home. It did not matter that there were books that were impossible for even him to open – what mattered was that the few that would let him in safely were a wealth of information that Harry loved learning about.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Oh man, how scary is this. It's an update. I want to first start off by saying that this is because of the amazing "Far Away In Wonderland" (penname on FanFiction.net) who I decided on to help me continue the story. He is awesome and so fantastic, and it's because of him that you guys are getting an update now instead of several years from now! Because it isn't me who is writing it, of course the writing style will be a little different, and I would love it if you would give his writing a chance. But again, I can't even begin to tell you all how great he is since words would not do any sort of justice.
> 
> On another note, my work term out in Utah is fantastic so far, and I just went skydiving yesterday - after all, what better day to make your first skydiving jump than on Halloween? It is such an incredible experience, and I would highly recommend it.

"Harry, Harry!" A very excited Draco Malfoy was what interrupted Harry´s peaceful slumber on a Thursday morning. Without thinking Harry buried his head under his pillow, hoping that if he´d wish really hard, the blonde menace would vanish. The half-demon may not need as much sleep as normal humans, but that didn't mean that Harry had no need for sleep at all – especially with his midnight strolls into the Forbidden Section. But all of Harry´s effort was to no avail as Draco continued to shake his shoulders in his never-ending quest to make absolutely sure that Harry had no chance to fall back asleep.

"What do you want?" Harry mumbled unintelligible from where his head was buried underneath his pillow.

"Today we're gonna have our first flying lessons!" Draco exclaimed excitedly and jumped on Harry's bed. "We're finally allowed on brooms!" Harry lifted his pillow from his face and squinted at Draco suspiciously.

"Don't tell you've never been on a broom before?" Harry said. "Your father probably bought you one the moment you could walk and taught you how to fly."

"It was only a child's broom," Draco pouted. "Besides, no one was there to admire how talented I was. Now there'll be a whole bunch of Gryffindors who will eat dust while I fly high above them." He grinned at Harry who just stared at Draco incredulously. Was Draco really that vain? Yep, he definitely was. Taking his wand from the nightstand beside his bed Harry cast a Tempus and was very tempted to murder Malfoy after that.

"It is bloody five o'clock in the morning, Draco!" he hissed at the other Slytherin. Draco just looked at him with wide eyes as if that little fact had escaped his attention. "Flying lessons will be in the afternoon! And before that we have Charms and Transfiguration."

"And why," Harry continued. "Are the others able to sleep through this ruckus you're making?" He pointed with his hand to the other beds which curtains were still drawn. Draco just gave him a 'Are you really that stupid'-look.

"Silencing charms on the curtains," he clarified with his haughty Malfoy veneer.

_Huh_ , Harry thought, _that would explain why I never hear anyone snoring._

"So, now that we have clarified that it is way too early for you to wake me up, can I just try to get at least another two hours of sleep?" Harry tried to sound menacingly, but the yawn that made it past his lips destroyed that particular image.

"You're no fun," Draco pouted, but he slid down of Harry's bed and walked over to his own.

"Wait until I make you look old with my awesome flying-skills," he added before he closed his bed curtains. Harry – not even bothering with closing his own – just fell back asleep.

* * *

When Harry emerged from the Slytherin common room he was still rather disgruntled as he hadn't been able to fall asleep after Draco had woken him, which resulted in him staring at the ceiling of his four-poster bed for the rest of the night. Draco, who was probably sensing Harry's mood, refrained from talking to him during their walk to the Great Hall and had at least the decency to wait until Harry had piled up his food on his plate before he began to ramble about the flying lessons.

Harry had to suppress the urge to simply bang his head on the table. Why was everyone so bloody obsessed with flying? He looked to his side and saw the other boys of his dormitory – and even some girls – animatedly discussing the topic. One glance back at Draco showed him that the boy just kept talking, even though it was obvious that Harry wasn't listening to him.

"He's always like that," a voice from beside him commented. "You'd think that with so much talent the professionals would have already scouted him, thus freeing us from his presence." Harry turned around only to look into the green eyes of one the girls in his year. Her long blonde hair hung loosely over her shoulders and her lips were curled into a small smirk, something which every Slytherin seems to have mastered. Harry tried to remember the girl's name, but his mind came up blank. Draco meanwhile stopped mid-speech and scowled at the girl.

"Nobody asked your opinion, Greengrass," he responded heatedly, probably to cover up the faint blush on his cheeks. Being called out by a girl didn't seem to be something Draco had much experience with, Harry mused. But now that Draco had mentioned her name, Harry could recall some details about her. Daphne Greengrass. Pureblood, obviously. Always hung around with Tracey Davis and sometimes with Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode.

Needing Draco to provide names for his fellow class mates made Harry recognize that he had – over the new experience of being at Hogwarts and having Hermione and Draco – neglected to get to know his house mates. He should probably change that; after all they would spend the next seven years together learning magic.

"If I hadn't stepped in McLeod would have suffocated under all your prowess," Daphne shot back. With the way she said it Harry seriously doubted that she believed Draco had any kind of flying talent. Draco obviously believed so as well.

"I've been flying on a broom since forever," he hissed at her with narrowed eyes.

"On what? A child's broom who can't fly higher than one foot above the ground and is as fast as a snail?" Daphne mocked and the resulting reddening of Draco's cheeks was everything she needed as confirmation. Harry, who was perfectly content to watch the spectacle in front of him, took a sip from his water – what the staff was thinking with only providing this disgusting pumpkin juice was beyond him – and continued munching on his toast.

"It's more experience than you have," Draco said.

"But I also never claimed to be a flying ace," Daphne responded. "But let's simply ask McLeod what he is thinking." Both turned to look at Harry expectantly. Harry just looked like a dear caught in the headlights.

"Well," Harry cleared his throat. "Even though it was only a child's broom, I'm sure that flying it gave Draco valuable experience in which he can build upon when it comes to flying real brooms." Draco preened and looked at Daphne triumphantly. The girl just looked at Harry contemplating.

"Nice save," she said. "So, do you have any feelings regarding flying?"

"Don't really have one," Harry answered carefully. Mentioning the one time where he had 'flown' with Gabriel didn't seem like a smart thing to do. Besides, flying with an angel and flying on a broom were vastly different things, anyway. Seeing Draco's indignant expression Harry quickly amended: "But I'm sure that it will be an enlightening experience." Daphne huffed into her cup and Draco didn't really look mollified.

"Anyway," Harry continued before both of them had another go at each other. "How long do you think will Flitwick have us practice Aguamenti? It's kind of useless, anyway, don't you think?"

"I don't think it's that useless," Draco interjected. "You can…extinguish fire with it."

"With such a tiny stream of water?" Harry asked skeptically.

"It's tiny because we only learn the basic form of the spell," Daphne explained. "Usually when you start Hogwarts you aren't able to control your magic very efficiently. But the more magic you use and the more you use your wand the more attuned to your magic you become. With a little bit more spellcasting experience you can control how much magic you put into a spell. Any older wizard or witch can control how much water they conjure with Auguamenti simply by the quantity of magic they use."

"I didn't know that," Harry commented impressed. He also didn't know if that rule applied to him as well. After all he already had a decent grip on his demonic powers. He never asked himself if they would also influence his magical powers. Would they stifle his magical core or even enhance it? Maybe he should write a letter to his father and ask him about it.

"My father explained it to me once," Daphne shrugged.

"But there have to be some spells who work independently from your magical strength," Harry reasoned. Draco looked up from the food he was eating.

"I mean," Harry continued. "Take the Unlocking Spell. You either unlock something or you don't; there's no in-between. It should theoretically work no matter how much magic you use. And if the lock is warded against it, the amount of magic you use is completely irrelevant."

"Somebody did listen to Flitwick during his lectures," Draco teased and Harry shot him a dirty look.

"McLeod is right, though," Daphne said. "At least I think he is. I think I'll write my father about it." The three of them fell in comfortable silence as they finished their breakfast, which was only interrupted when the owls flew in and delivered their mail to eagerly awaiting pupils. Afterwards they made their way to the charms classroom.

To Harry's surprise instead of straight walking to her usual place next to Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne sat down right beside him, which earned her a suspicious look from Draco.

"You're way more interesting than those two," Daphne started to explain when she saw the questioning looks on their faces, indicating towards the other two girls. "The only thing they're talking about are clothes, make-up and the newest gossip from Witch Weekly." She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"As if you didn't read that trash," Draco murmured and Daphne shot him a poisonous glare. Thankfully, Harry was spared from having to watch them fight again by their charms professor waddling towards the desk in front of them.

"Better Witch Weekly than World of Quidditch," Daphne whispered furiously before the Flitwick started lecturing. Harry groaned inwardly. That was going to be a long day.

* * *

They had a one-hour-break between Charms and Transfiguration in which Draco and Harry went to the library where they found Hermione, hidden behind a literal mountain of books about various topics.

"Why do you read a book about the workings of the postal system of the Wizarding World?" Draco asked as he randomly snatched one book from the pile and let himself fall into one of the seats.

"That knowledge could come in handy in the future," Hermione said.

"When?" Draco japed.

"Maybe when I want to forge the magical signature of a withdrawal letter to Gringotts in order to bankrupt your family," Hermione snapped which was immediately followed by a look of shock and horror that flashed across her face. Harry just snorted which soon evolved into a full-blown laughing fit. Hermione suggesting something like that was simply hilarious.

"So the lion has claws," he squeezed between his fits of laughter which only made Hermione blush.

"This isn't the book I'm currently reading," Hermione defended herself and held up the book in her hands so that Harry could read the silver letters on its cover. _How to Fly High_ by Gertha Gruggs. Terrible naming habits must be something inherent in the Wizarding World it seemed.

"You read an instruction about how to fly?" Draco asked with arched eyebrows.

"Maybe there are some helpful tips in these books," Hermione replied and to Harry she looked kind of desperate. He could imagine why, though. For someone like Hermione who took his whole knowledge from books the prospect of having to do something physical without prior written instruction must be deeply unsettling.

"So that I know what mistakes to avoid," she added nervously. Draco just stared at her disbelievingly.

"You can't learn how to fly from a book," he exclaimed. "That's the stupid thi-" Harry kicked against his friend's shin which resulted in a loud yelp, earning them an evil glare from Madam Pince.

"I'll fail," Hermione cried. "I'll fail. I won't be able to fly and then they'll snap my wand and send me home where I'll spent the rest of my life wallowing in misery and despair because no one ever thought of writing simple instructions on how to properly handle a broom!" She shouted the rest of her sentence while her grip on the book she was currently holding became tighter and tighter until her knuckles were white.

"Calm down, Hermione," Harry said and carefully extracted the book from Hermione's death grip. "For nearly everyone here it'll be the first time they fly on a broom. I'm sure you aren't the only one who's that nervous." Draco snorted, but another kick against his shin turned it into a wince. "And even if something were to happen to you, Draco and I'll catch you." When Draco didn't say something Harry kicked him again.

"Sure," Draco winced. "I'll catch you." Hermione smiled brightly at both of them.

"I'm really glad that I have such valiant knights ready to defend my poor self," she teased and all three of them laughed. Shortly thereafter they were ushered out of the library by an exasperated Madam Pince.

* * *

The flying lesson took place in one of Hogwart's many courtyards. As Harry walked through the gate a wide space opened up in front of him, surrounded by the looming towers of the castle. Brooms were already laying on the ground, ready to be used by the children, but there was no teacher in sight. Unsure what to do the Slytherins and Gryffindors huddled together in groups, eying the other mistrusting, and simply waited.

Harry noticed that one of the Gryffindors – a freckled boy with bright red hair – seemed to star at him every now and then. His gaze was neither friendly nor hostile; he simply looked like he was trying to find the solution to a riddle that was eluding him.

_He has to be a Weasley_ , Harry thought to himself. Draco had told him about that family, not very flattering, though. 'Poor', a 'disgrace', 'ill-mannered' were only a few of the choice words he had used while recounting the countless feuds that had erupted between the Malfoy and Weasley family over the course of the last few centuries.

Harry had yet to interact with the members of that family beyond simply attending classes together, so for now he would withhold any judgement. If he only listened to Draco he would never have befriended Hermione as well and that was something he couldn't even imagine.

Right in this moment the teacher entered the training field. She was a short woman with spikey grey hair and storm-grey eyes that remembered Harry of a hawk eying up its prey. This had to be Madam Hooch.

"Good afternoon, class," the woman greeted them with a 'no-nonsense' voice.

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," they greeted back in chorus.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson," Madam Hooch started and looked at them expectantly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!" For a short moment there was nothing but chaos as everyone tried to find a place beside a broom, but finally everyone got his place. Draco to his right and Hermione to his left, Harry stretched out his right hand and commanded: "Up!"

The broom shot up in his hand and Harry nearly fell over. He hadn't expected for the device to react that fast. Looking around he saw that he was the only one who managed to get his broom up on his first try. Next to him he heard Hermione commanding her broom like she was admonishing it for slacking in class. It hadn't even twitched. Meanwhile Draco managed to make his broom obey his command on the third try, resulting in him looking even more smug than usual. Weasley had managed it as well, which earned him a hostile glare from Draco. Harry just rolled his eyes.

After five minutes the only people left with their brooms laying on the ground where Hermione and another Gryffindor boy who looked like even a light breeze would spook him into a blubbering mess. Finally Hermione's broom shot up in her waiting hand and Harry could hear her releasing a breath of relief. At least she wasn't the last one. Apparently even Madam Hooch's patience had run out, so she just walked up to the chubby boy and put the broom in his hand manually. Then she walked back to the front of the row.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it," Madam Hooch instructed them and demonstrated. "And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end." The class mounted their brooms. The wood was smooth underneath Harry's fingers. He wondered how many boys and girls had learned flying on the same broom he was using now. "When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle...3...2...1!" Madam Hooch was about to blow her whistle when the nervous boy from before started hovering above the ground.

"Mr. Longbottom!" Madam Hooch exclaimed.

"Neville, what are you doing?" a Gryffindor girl shouted.

"We're not supposed to take off, yet," added another boy and Harry rolled his eyes faced with such an unhelpful statement. Meanwhile Neville was soaring higher and higher, his hands griped tightly around the broomstick, obviously afraid of falling off the broom. If Harry was in his position he would be afraid as well. Falling from such a height would hurt even him, so it stands to reason that Neville wouldn't even survive it.

"Come back down this instant!" Madam Hooch commanded and Harry wondered if the woman was truly that incompetent. Didn't she see that Neville was not in control of his broom?

Neville soared through the sky and hit a wall, conking along it and then swooping off. Harry winced. That had to hurt! All the while, Neville was screaming. Suddenly he began to zoom back towards the group of students. Hooch held out her wand, probably in order to stop him. Neville became even faster. Shortly before he reached the group of students, they scattered and Hooch dived out of the way as Neville flew past them.

He zoomed past a statue of a man with a sharp spear and Neville's cloak got caught on it. He was flipped off the broom and just hung there.

"Oh. Ah...help!" he shouted frightened. The whole class – including Madam Hooch – was running towards the end of the courtyard where Neville was hanging. Before they reached him, though, he wavered. Then the cloak ripped and Neville fell. For a short moment he got caught on a torch, but then he slipped out and fell to the ground with a loud thump. Harry just heard a disgusting snap – probably a broken bone – and then Neville started to groan in pain. Then the whole class was crowding the boy laying on the ground.

"Everyone out of the way!" Madam Hooch ordered and the class scattered, so that she could reach Neville.

"Is he alright?" a girl asked.

"Of course, he's just groaning in pain because it's so much fun," Harry drawled which earned him a smothering glare from the girl which left him completely unimpressed.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch," Madam Hooch analyzed. "Good boy, come on now, up you get." From the corner of his eyes Harry saw Draco reaching down and picking up something up from the ground. Meanwhile Hooch led Neville away with her.

"Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch," she warned everyone and some of the pupils gulped in fear.

"I saw you stealing Neville's Remembrall, Malfoy," the Weasley accused the blonde. "Give it back!"

"I don't need it anyway," Draco sneered and threw the Remembrall at the red-head who nearly let it fall on the ground.

"Do you think Neville will be all right?" Hermione asked Harry. Before he could open his mouth, though, they were interrupted by Weasley and Draco fighting.

"You probably planned to curse it before you gave it back to Neville!" Weasley exclaimed and some of the Gryffindors nodded in assent.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ronald," Hermione intervened. "Draco is a first-year. He'd hardly know any harmful curses or how to apply them." Weasley stuttered and blushed, an interesting combination with his already red hair. Then he narrowed his eyes at Hermione.

"And you!" he shouted. "Hanging around those Slytherins. Don't you know any house pride at all? What kind of Gryffindor are you?" Hermione's eyes began tearing up and that was what made Harry snap.

"Shut up!" Harry snarled and he could feel his control over his demonic powers slipping. "You have no right – none of you has the right – to judge Hermione's choice of friends!" The temperature around them began to drop and it was as if all happiness was sucked directly out of the air. Some of the Gryffindors shivered. Realizing what he was doing, Harry drew a deep breath and wrestled his powers back under control. Instantly the atmosphere turned back to normal.

"Just leave her alone," Harry added as warning to Weasley. Any possible retort was interrupted by Madam Hooch coming back and ending the lesson.

* * *

"Thank you, Harry." Harry looked up from the book he was reading to see Hermione standing in front of him.

"For defending you?" he replied. "Of course, I defended you. You're my friend after all."

"It's the first time someone did that for me," Hermione confessed. "I never had real friends before." Harry leaned forward.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked and Hermione nodded eagerly. "Neither did I." Of course Harry had his father, Gabriel and Cara, but he never had a friend his own age. His father and Gabriel were great and Harry loved them with all of his heart and would die for them, but sometimes – when Gabriel was hiding, his father on business and the silence was closing in from all sides – he had wished for a friend that he could tell all the things he would – and could – never tell his father.

"And I don't think Draco did, too," Harry added. Draco had acquaintances, goons or social-ladder-climbers, but from what Harry had discerned he never had real friends. "We're complimentary damaged." He grinned at her. Hermione just bumped her fist against his shoulder.

"You're stupid," she added, but she smiled.

* * *

If Harry thought that the subject of flying lessons was dealt with after that disaster he was soon taught better. Draco wouldn't stop complaining that he didn't get the chance to show off his superior flying skills and somehow what had happened had made it past the few people who actually had been there and was now hot gossip in the Hogwarts' rumor mill. It was maddening.

Making everything worse was the fact that somehow word had gotten out about Harry's reaction to Weasley bullying Hermione and now he was either hailed as charming boyfriend – he was eleven for God's sake! – or sneered at for apparently not having his magic under control. Harry resolutely ignored both.

"There's no need to worry that much," Draco told him after another group of giggling girls passed them by. "Mother always told me that the opinion of the sheep is fickle. Tomorrow they gossip about something else and have all but forgotten about you."

Narcissa Malfoy should be proven right. After a few days the rumors became quieter until they stopped completely, being replaced by new topics. Harry was quite happy about that.

* * *

It was again during one of his frequent night time strolls into the Restricted Section of the library when Harry came across a particularly interesting book. A book that would keep his attention for a very long time until he would be able to master the skills presented within the pages. He knew that very few witches and wizards could do it, or even took the time to learn, but Harry felt confident that he would be successful in learning how to become an animagus eventually with time and discipline.

Harry looked down at the leather bound book in his hands and ran his fingers across the title, _Finding Your Inner Beast: A Guide to Becoming an Animagus_. It was old and the letters were fading away, so he was not able to read the author's name – he had enough of a problem deciphering the title on the front cover, but he obviously was able to read it.

He flipped to the table of contents and glanced at the names of some of the main chapters and read the brief, faded description underneath them:

1\. History of the Animagus – Where did it come from and how it evolved.

2\. Famous Animagus in Time – More people than you realize had their inner beast brought forward.

3\. What to Expect – A brief overview of what it will be like to make this life changing decision.

4\. Beginning the Search – Your animagus form is not just a creature you take the form of, it starts as a creature that thinks for itself inside your mind.

5\. First Contact – The do's and don'ts of this crucial first meeting with your beast.

6\. Taming the Beast – Not everyone is able to gain the trust needed to be a successful animagus.

7\. The First Changes – After your form and you trust each other, it is now time to welcome it to change you.

8\. Time – It is not a process that can happen in a week, it can easily take months or years.

9\. The Final Stages – The point where you make your first full transformation.

10\. Becoming One – In order to truly master your form, you and your beast must become one. Only then will you become it and it becomes you to make a seamless transformation.

He flipped through a few of the pages and was elated to see that the print was still very much legible to him. Curiosity burned within Harry, but he forced himself to put the book back into the shelf. Animagi were a truly interesting topic, but from what he had read and from what Professor McGonagall had said becoming one required certain maturity and proficiency with magic. His half-demonic nature may give him some advantages, but nevertheless, Harry was still an eleven year old boy who just started his magical schooling. Becoming an animagus would be beyond his abilities for a very long time to come. But one day he would be one, he promised himself.

Harry stood up from his hiding place and made his way to the exit of the Forbidden Section. To someone else the towering bookcases, the menacing atmosphere and the faint traces of dark magic that penetrated the air would be scary, but Harry felt right at home between the books which pages where made out of human skin or demanded blood in order to be opened.

Harry let his finger wander over the spines of the old tomes and enjoyed the feeling that rushed through him – joy, elation, longing and acceptance. These books didn't have consciousness, but some of them had basic desires, their pages imbued with magic.

"Ah," Harry hissed and drew back his finger when a sudden pain erupted in his fingertip. He looked at his finger and saw a small puncture from which a drop of blood had fallen on the ground. In front of his eyes the wound closed as his healing powers set in. Harry couldn't believe that one of the books had taken a drop of his blood.

Harry was about to continue his way, when all of a sudden, every bit of strength seemed to leave his body. Before he could even comprehend what was happening he was laying on the ground, struggling to keep breathing. Darkness spread from the corner of his field of vision, threatening to take him over. He tried to move his arms or legs, but it was to no avail. The world around him blurred and panic began to take hold of Harry's mind. He couldn't just lie here and wait for whatever was happening to him to finish. He needed to leave, there was nothing beyond that single truth in his mind right now.

With single-minded determination Harry managed to gather the last bit of strength he possessed and crawled forward, once inch after another. He would not give up.

* * *

Harry didn't know how he managed to get back into his dorm without being discovered. He remembered only bits – darkness, empty hallways, portraits looking at him in suspicion, the all-consuming fear soared through his veins and his ragged breathing that disrupted the eerie silence that reigned over Hogwarts at night – and the last thing he thought before he fell unconscious in his bed – because you couldn't call it falling asleep – was that he needed to be more careful in the future. Maybe the books in the Forbidden Section were as dark as him, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't harm him.

* * *

The whole of Hogwarts was anticipating the Halloween feast – well, the whole of Hogwarts except the Slytherin house. Whenever the holyday was mentioned, scowls would mar the faces of nearly every member of the House of Snakes as their distaste for the muggle holyday that was forced upon them knew no bounds. Harry meanwhile had no problems with Halloween; from what his father had told him Samhain hadn't been a pleasure to be around, so he didn't resent anyone who would celebrate his banishment into Hell. Of course, he was wise enough not to mention that around his fellow housemates.

The Great Hall was extensively decorated. Carved pumpkins floated above the house tables, their creepy faces illuminated from the candles within. Every now and then a cluster of bats would fly over their heads and if you were lucky and caught one it would turn into a delicious sweet. Harry had even seen some of the upper-year Slytherins trying to catch one.

Nevertheless, the mood at the Slytherin table wasn't as exuberant as it was at the other tables. Every now and then a glare would be sent at Dumbledore, who wore a robe ornate with bright orange pumpkins and black bats.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked Draco as he set down and let his gaze sweep over the Gryffindor table which was lacking the distinctive hair of his bookworm-friend.

"I haven't seen her," Draco shrugged. "Maybe she's in the library?"

"The Halloween feast is mandatory as you reminded me again and again while lamenting over the fact that you're forced to celebrate a muggle holyday," Harry drawled. Draco just pouted.

It was shortly after the feast started that the doors suddenly sprung open and gave entrance to a disheveled looking Professor Quirrel. The man staggered a few steps forward.

"Troll…in the dungeons," he rambled. "Thought you should know." Then he fell down to the ground, unconscious. He hadn't even fully reached the ground when the pandemonium started. Students shouting, asking questions and generally being confused.

"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice echoed through the hall, amplified by magic and immediately silence descended upon the Great Hall. "Prefects, please escort your houses to their dormitories. The teachers will accompany me and take care of the interloper."

"Is he crazy?!" Daphne hissed. "Slytherin common room is in the dungeons!" But she went unheard as the pull of the students bodies forced them towards the entrance doors. That was were Harry saw exactly the person he was looking for.

"Longbottom!" he shouted and the boy cringed. "Where's Hermione?"

"I-I-I don't know," Longbottom sputtered. "Ron said something mean to her after Charms a-a-and I haven't seen her since then. But P-P-Parvati said that she was crying in the girl's rest room on the first floor."

"Thanks, Longbottom," Harry said and the boy looked visibly relieved that he wasn't the focus of Harry's attention any longer. He had to warn Hermione of the troll that somehow had managed to enter Hogwarts, which was supposed to be the safest location in Britain.

_If that's safe, I don't want to know what normal is like_ , Harry thought.

Harry had made sure to separate himself from his friends who were surly trying to follow him to see where the hell he was going. But he slid around corners and used just enough of the small shadows around to slowly hide him away from anyone who was actively searching for him.

He ran his way up to the first floor and abruptly came to a halt after he turned a corner and saw the creature towering before him.

_That bloody fool said that the troll was in the dungeons!_ Harry cursed inwardly. Luckily the troll hadn't yet entered the girl's lavatory, so Hermione should be safe.

There was nothing Harry could do, though, to make a surprise entrance now since the troll had its beady eyes fixed on Harry's small form. And now that he had the troll in his sights, Harry had the fleeting thought that he could have planned this all better. He found the troll, but now what? How did he plan on killing it if he decided to go that way – which face it, he was going to kill it. But how? A whimpering Cara appeared behind him, trying to be fierce.

"You've been hanging around humans too long – you are starting to grow soft." Harry murmured to his faithful Hell hound. The small and faint whines stopped and a growl with fangs bared came out instead. "That's my good girl." Just as Harry was saying that to Cara, the troll made a loud rumbling sound and raised the club that was grasped in his right hand. He began to move closer to the half demon and Hell hound pair, slowly picking up speed down the corridor that they found themselves in.

"Oh shit…" Harry summoned Lasair by his side and sent the great wolf form towards the towering mountain of a troll. But the shadow magic that Harry used proved to be somewhat ineffective as soon as the club the troll was holding struck the side of the wolf form with a great force.

Desperately, Harry sent out some fire from his wand, but opted to use the powers he had naturally, well naturally now, as a demon, well, half demon. He tried to force the club out of the troll's hand, but got distracted when Cara leaped forward to try her paw at fighting the beast. But it turned out that it did not really quite matter since someone else appeared behind Harry.

"Now what do you think you are trying to do? Fight a mountain troll on your own? Well, I guess that that is what you are trying to do, but you really should not have come here on your own." Gabriel's humorous tone of voice entered Harry's ears, and he was both happy yet irritated at the new presence of his uncle. He was happy because it had been awhile since he had last seen the archangel, but irritated because clearly Gabriel had to have been close by to know that the troll was here in the dungeons.

Harry had seen several American candy wrappers occasionally in the winding hallways of the ancient castle, but he had just thought that it was his mind playing tricks on him. It showed now that Gabriel had been hiding out at Hogwarts to keep an eye on him, and Harry was not pleased at this – he could take care of himself, dammit.

"Okay, we are going to talk after this is taken care of – did Dad send you here to keep an eye on me? I know how to take care of myself."

"Obviously not well enough – I saw you just run into this situation that you clearly cannot handle on your own in your current weakened form." Gabriel shifted his weight, uncomfortable at having any sort of fight with the young boy at the moment yet knowing that it had to be done. "Let's take care of this awful creature first, shall we?" And with a snip of his fingers the troll's head exploded, splattering blood and gore all over Harry, but miraculously not over Gabriel. Harry glared at the Archangel and was about to say something when he heard steps coming up the hallway. Gabriel vanished and before Harry could react a scream pierced the air.

Hermione stood in the now open door, her face ashen as she stared at the carcass of the troll and at Harry's blood soaked form. He supposed it would make for a quiet gruesome sight, yet before he could say something Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape had already run around the corner.

"McLeod, what happened here?" McGonagall asked of him.

"Well," Harry began and scratched the back of his head. "I noticed that Hermione wasn't at the feast, so when news of the troll came I thought that I should warn her. I couldn't know that the bloddy…"

"Language!"

"…thing was here and not in the dungeons!" Harry ended his explanation.

"A quiet extraordinary feat of loyalty and braveness," Dumbledore said with the typical twinkling of his eyes. "Can you confirm what Mr. McLeod told us, Ms. Granger?"

"W-w-what he said is true," Hermione confirmed, still shocked. "I didn't know of the troll. If Harry hadn't come…I would-d-d-d have died!"

"And yet," Snape drawled. "The question remains of how a first-year student was able to slaughter a full grown mountain troll." Harry's mind drew blank. Damn Snape and his inquisitiveness. How should he answer that?

"It was a Bombarda. When the troll opened his mouth, Harry hit him with the spell. Apparently the magic-resistant nature of troll skin doesn't extend to its roof of the mouth," Hermione said. Harry gaped at her. Hermione, sticker for rules and authorities was lying for him to tow head of houses and the headmaster himself!? Was she possessed or something? Seeing a dead troll must have rattled her more than she let on.

"I see," Dumbledore just answered.

"Nevertheless, if you had been at the feast – like everyone else should have been – you wouldn't have been in danger," McGonagall said sternly. "25 points from Gryffindor. 50 points to Slytherin for coming to a friend's aid in true Gryffindor fashion." Hermione hung her head in shame and Harry just nodded.

"Now, my dear Minerva, would you escort Ms. Granger back to her dorm?" Dumbledore asked. Professor McGonagall nodded and beckoned Hermione to follow her.

"My boy, let me help you to the Hospital Wing," Dumbledore said benignly. "So that Poppy can have a look at you." Harry wanted to counter that the nurse wouldn't find anything amiss with him, but then he remembered that a human would need medical attention after an encounter with a troll and that he was still soaked with blood, so he complied.

Of course, Harry didn't miss Dumbledore's hidden motive.

_Let the interrogation begin_ , he thought sourly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been a while since I last updated, but I've had to focus on my life, studies, and work. It does not seem like that will be changing anytime soon. And honestly, I have lost interest in Supernatural a long time ago, and trying to continue writing for a fandom that I haven't enjoyed in a while is tough. I told you before that I would complete this story eventually, so this is me completing it. The way I ended it here is nowhere near the spot that I had planned for the ending, so I apologize for how abrupt it feels. In a way, it is fitting that the very first bit of this story that I wrote years ago is what makes up most of this chapter. This is what I had imagined first when I thought of this story, and everything else grew out of it.
> 
> While I might be done with writing long stories for now, I will have some one-shots and short stories coming soon for other fandoms. Hamilton, Yuri on Ice, and Fullmetal Alchemist are the few that come to mind that I have a few things written for, but not yet edited. Blood Doesn't Make Family has drained my joy of writing for the last few years, and I have been trying to find that enjoyment again by writing small things for some other fandoms. Plus, looking back on a lot of what I had for Blood Doesn't Make Family, I was young when I wrote some of it, and I really don't like a few of the things I did. But, it did teach me a lot.
> 
> I skipped writing a few things that would have gone into a chapter right before this since if I was going to write it, it would take a long time for an update. And I want to be done with this story. But the main plot points missing from being written out are: Harry's time being interrogated by Dumbledore in the infirmary after the troll attack (Dumbledore learns nothing), Harry talking with Hermione a bit more about who he is, the Christmas holidays, and Snape going to America to learn more about different creatures. Any other plot points that I missed, I apologize for. But, I haven't had the time to go back and reread what has been written for this story.
> 
> With all of that in mind, enjoy the final chapter of Blood Doesn't Make Family. Though I am pretty sure some people will hate me with how it ends (I know it is a lazy end and I hate it myself, but that isn't enough to change my mind).
> 
> -Jayde

The students filed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and were surprised to see Professor Snape standing by the front desk. On top of the desk were various weapons, bottles, and containers filled with various materials. Harry walked in and sat in one of the back seats just as one of the brave female students in the class dared to venture the question that they all were wondering.

"Sir, what happened to Professor Quirrell?"

"Professor Quirrell is out sick right now, so I will be taking over some of his classes while he is incapable of teaching. It's not like you learn anything from him anyways, so I will be giving a lesson on some common creatures found in the United States." He let everyone settle into their desks and pull out some parchment and quills before he continued.

"Though there are many types of monsters over there, but we will focus only on one of them today. Before I tell you what we will be covering, can anyone tell me what some of the monsters are and if there's any difference to the ones we have over here?" Snape drawled out as he looked out over the class of Slytherins and Gryffindors. No one except for Hermione raised their hand, but even then, she seemed almost hesitant when doing so. Snape sighed as he reluctantly called on Hermione.

"Yes, Granger, what do you know to share with the class?"

"Not much, but I do know that the vampires, ghosts, and werewolves are different in North America. I read that it has something to do with having natural magic or not." Professor Snape unenthusiastically applauded the girl's correct answer as he looked out at the rest of the class.

"Anyone else besides Granger know of the supernatural in America? McLeod, maybe you have any input to add?" Harry looked up from the paper he was doodling on with a blank look on his face. He did his best to hide any of the knowledge he had since he was one of the creatures they would be studying in class apparently.

"No, sir. I'm afraid that I don't have anything to add to what Hermione said." The professor gave him a calculating look before continuing on with his lesson.

"The first creature that we will be studying in class is one of the more common ones. Does anyone have any information they would like to share on demons?" No one raised their hand, not even Hermione. Snape's disappointed gaze swept over the class.

"Very well then. To start out, demons have to possess a body if they want to walk on Earth. There are several ways to protect yourself against this, but we will get into that later. Once they have possessed a body demons can then use their powers. They have several powers depending on how strong they are, with some more powerful than others. Most all demons have the power of telekinesis. Can anyone tell me what that is?" A Slytherin boy and Hermione both raised their hands, but Snape called on the boy.

"Telekinesis is when someone can move something with their mind."

"Correct. Five points to Slytherin. Now can anyone tell me what Telepathy is?" Once again Hermione raised her hand, but she was ignored in favor of the professor calling on another Slytherin.

"It's where you can read another person's mind."

"Correct. Five points to Slytherin. Not only do demons have the power of telepathy and telekinesis, but they also have superhuman strength and enhanced endurance. Because they possess a human body, any injury that is sustained doesn't quite harm the demon, but once they leave their vessel, the host body dies the majority of the time because a human body cannot handle what it went through. Some other powers that the stronger demons have are of mind control, being able to make fire, and even able to destroy objects with a thought. Now there are other powers that demons are rumored to have, but I have not been able to find too much more on what they can or cannot do. Nevertheless, even the strongest demons have some sort of weakness." He turned to grab a few of the containers off the desk behind him and began to pass them out. Slowly, the multiple containers were dispersed amongst the students, and they were able to get a look at what they were.

"Why are you giving us water and salt to look at?" One of the Gryffindors questioned.

"It is not simply water, you moron, it's holy water. Demons are dark creatures so holy water will burn them enough to cause harm. The same goes for salt. If you are ever in need of protection against a demon, a line of salt will keep it away from you since they cannot cross over the salt. Iron is also another material that harms demons…" Professor Snape continued talking about how the different materials were harmful to demons while also keeping an eye on Harry to see what types of reactions were coming from him.

Just as one of the students was passing a bottle of holy water to Harry, it was accidently knocked over on his desk. The student who knocked it over did not pay attention to Harry's reaction to it, but Snape sure did. With what he saw, confirmed the suspicions that the potions master had.

Harry was doing his best to hide the pain from where the holy water had splashed against his skin all the while trying to not bring attention to himself. While he did a good job at not getting any of the students to wonder what was happening with him, Severus Snape was looking for any sort of response Harry had to what transpired. Instead of calling out the boy in the middle of class, Snape chose to take a sneakier approach to it.

The class continued with no other altercations, and Harry had secretly wrapped the small burns that were almost healed. It was towards the end of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class when Professor Snape announced that he wanted to see Harry in his office later that night. Of course Harry couldn't say no or argue, so all he did was say "yes, sir."

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was after Harry finished eating dinner when he made his way to Professor Snape's office. He had a small inkling in the back of his mind that nothing good could come out of it, but Snape was his head of house, so why would he be afraid to meet with him? There was no reason for him to be hesitant about knocking on the door when he came face to face with it, so he continued on like any other student would. He knocked on the wooden door and slowly opened it at the muffled call of the professor.

"Come in." So Harry did just that and walked into the room. He let the door close behind him before he started to walk closer to where Professor Snape was sitting at his desk. After a few steps, Harry hit an invisible barrier, and his eyes grew wide as he quickly looked down, and then up. A feeling of dread swept over him as he spotted the devil's trap drawn on the ceiling. His hand went to wrap around the charm around his neck that Gabriel gave him before coming to Hogwarts, and he prayed that the angel would hear him as he silently called for help.

"Why would a demon possess a young boy from Slytherin?" Snape's silky voice filled the silence in the room as the sound of a chair backing out from the desk was heard. Harry turned to look at his professor with a calm look on his face, but on the inside he was freaking out. He tried to mask the fear that suddenly consumed him, but he was not able to hide it all from the man before him.

"I am not possessed!" Harry tried to tell his professor, but Snape was hearing none of that. Severus grabbed several of the larger containers from his Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson earlier in the day and threw some of the holy water onto the boy. Harry cried out in pain, and a smirk came across Snape's face.

"Try to tell that to the devil's trap that you're caught in and the holy water that just caused you pain. Now, I am going to go get the Headmaster, and when we get back, we're going to have a nice little chat with you." Severus Snape quickly left the room to go find and bring Dumbledore to the room, and Harry sunk to the ground with his hand still wrapped around the charm. Holy water dripped from his hair and clothes, and he could only close his eyes to try and block out the pain. While small amounts of the holy water were not as painful, having the full body completely soaked with the stuff made up for it.

After what felt like only a couple of seconds, the door was thrown open to reveal Professor Dumbledore followed by Professor Snape. Dumbledore stopped at the sight before his eyes. His usually twinkling eyes were replaced with stony eyes that caused Harry to flinch.

"Who are you and what are you doing with this poor boy?" Dumbledore's voice matched the hardness in his eyes. Harry stifled a small moan of pain as he stood up and faced his headmaster.

"My name is Harry McLeod, and I'm not possessed! Please, just let me explain!" Another goblet of holy water was thrown on him. Harry clenched his eyes shut as he tried to block out the agony.

"If we can't get him to talk, did you find the exorcism, Severus?"

"Yes, Headmaster. But I would rather get the demon to talk than exorcise it and get no information out of it."

"Severus, keep in mind that there still is a child in that body, so we can't go and harm him too much."

"Don't worry, I'll heal McLeod after we get the information we need and we get the demon out of him. He still is one of my students after all." Harry heard what was being said, and instantly his pleas for them to listen to him increased, but were ignored. More holy water was thrown on him with the addition of salt directly afterwards.

After what seemed like hours of being subjugated to salt and holy water, Dumbledore and Snape were still getting the same answers as before. Severus took the elder man aside to talk.

"Sir, I don't think that this demon will be talking anytime soon with only holy water and salt. Clearly other means are out of the question to get the demon to talk, so I say that we go ahead and exorcise it so we can help McLeod." Dumbledore hesitantly agreed with his staff member, and gave him the go ahead to start the exorcism. At this point, Harry had been tied onto a chair and now lacked the effort to keep his head up.

Severus walked over to his desk, pulled out a book, and opened it to a page he had bookmarked. He began reciting the exorcism, and Harry began to scream in pain. Dumbledore looked on at his student with a sorrowful look, but he knew that it was for the better. Tears ran down Harry's face as Snape continued to read from the book when suddenly it was thrown from his hands, and a furious voice was heard.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing to my son?!" Dumbledore and Snape turned to look towards the area where the enraged voice came from and were shocked to see a dark haired man they had never seen before. Both had similar thoughts race through their mind at this newcomer. Who is he? How did he get here? Did he say son? How did he know to come here? Those and many other questions that fell along the same lines as they held their wands up to point at this unfamiliar man. But with a wave of his hand, the wands were ripped from their owner's hands and hit the fall before harmlessly dropping to the ground. Keeping a firm and steady voice, Dumbledore questioned the unfamiliar man who was now standing beside the devil's trap where Harry was now barely conscious. He was still awake, yet not coherent enough to realize what was going on around him.

"Who are you?" was what the headmaster first asked.

"My name is Crowley, and that is my son who you just doused in holy water and salt for who knows how long. You better be thankful that you did not finish that exorcism, or you would be dead by now. Now release him from the devil's trap." Crowley switched his murderous gaze back and forth from resting on Snape to looking at Dumbledore.

"Now why would we do a foolish thing like that? He's possessed by a de…" Snape's counter reply and grab for some salt was cut off as he was thrown against the stone wall with a hand to his throat. Dumbledore tried to intervene, but he found himself tossed to the other side of the room where he was forgotten momentarily as Crowley had his attention focused on the pale man held in his grip.

"The only reason that I am not ripping you limb from limb is the fact that you are one of Harry's professors. Though I may reconsider letting him come back to Hogwarts and instead have him go to a different school." While watching the two, Dumbledore was able to easily recover and grab a small bottle of holy water from the ground. Currently without the use of his wand, the old man did all he could to throw the contents of the bottle towards Crowley. The holy water hit his back and he released Severus. Crowley hissed at the sudden pain and turned around to glare at the offending man.

"Really? You really seriously think that a small trickle of holy water will be able to stop the King of the Crossroads? You two are the ones who were stupid enough to harm my son and then think you could get away with it. Did you even let Harry explain anything to you? If you had, I sincerely doubt that we would be having this conversation right now." Snape's eyes widened at the knowledge that this was the King of the Crossroads since he had learned a bit while looking up information on demons, and Dumbledore had dropped his eyes since he knew that he should have given the child to explain.

"Crowley was it?" The demon in question nodded at Dumbledore with the deadly look still in his eyes. "I apologize that we did not let Harry explain, but why should we believe what you or he says? After all, you both are clearly demons, dark creatures that are not to be trusted." Crowley growled at what was being said and yelled back.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID?" He took a calming breath before continuing, "If you had let him explain, you would have found out that he is only half demon – he is not possessed. The demon part of him is just as apart of him as his natural magic core is. If you had completed that exorcism, YOU WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM!" Dumbledore grew confused as did Professor Snape.

"But in my research, there have never been any mention of half demons like him…" Snape was once again cut off by Crowley.

"That is probably because the information that you may have come across about it is not just for general knowledge. It was only by chance that I knew of the ritual needed to make him my son, and in doing so, half demon. Not many demons know of it."

"You're telling me that this kid was fully human before you created him into a monster?!" Severus raised his voice in outrage.

"The humans he was with before were the monsters, not me. And if you ask me, they still didn't get all that they deserve." Crowley countered. Dumbledore's interest peaked at the chance of finding out about the young McLeod's past.

"Who was he with before and what happened to him?" the headmaster hopefully asked. The King of the Crossroads locked his eyes onto Dumbledore's with a distant look to them – almost as if he was remembering all that he had seen before with the child.

"It's not my past to tell. Not even if you tried to make a deal for it. If you want to find out, you'll have to ask Harry yourself, that is, if he even wants to stay here after what you two idiots did. Now please, can you release him from the devil's trap?" Crowley asked through his teeth, and Dumbledore was able to see a hint of worry escape through the barriers the demon had put up. It was that small hint of concern that had him consider breaking the trap.

"Let us have our wands, and we agree to all go up to my office to talk without any violence, and I will let him out. Understand that we still have many questions for you, and I'm sure that you will be more cooperative if we let Harry out, won't you?" Dumbledore put a hand up to stop Snape from protesting his decision, and Crowley gave him a calculating look.

"You release Harry right now, and you two can have your wands back. No salt, holy water, iron, or traps as long as I am here, no more hurting my boy, and you've got yourself a deal." Dumbledore nodded, and Severus was quick to grab both his and the headmaster's wand from the floor before he returned it to its owner. For good measure, Dumbledore asked Snape to get Harry's wand out from the professor's desk. He then raised his wand to the ceiling where he then magically removed a small portion of the devil's trap. Crowley had followed the wand with his eyes, and once he saw the break in the trap, he rushed to Harry, and the ropes were destroyed with a flick of his hand.

"Harry, luv, are you still with us?" Crowley placed a hand on either side of his son's face as he ignored the slight stinging of the residue water and salt touching his skin. Harry's eyes were closed and his head rolled to the side, but Crowley could feel that he was just unconscious by now, so he carefully picked him up and walked towards to door where he paused.

"You just gonna stand there, or are you going to lead the way to your office?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

The small group consisting of Professor Snape and Crowley carrying Harry in his arms was led by Dumbledore up to his office. It was late at night, so there was no one in the hallways. The path was empty for them all as they silently but quietly walked from the dungeons to the upper levels of the castle.

Crowley was seething in anger at what had happened to his son. He had thought that maybe, just maybe he would actually be safe while in the school. He was glad that Harry had gone off to Hogwarts instead of sticking around the events that were going on in America. But it seemed that he was wrong to believe that danger would not find their small family.

Professor Snape had no idea what to think. In his studies of learning about demons, he thought that they should be killed on sight, but the man, no, demon that appeared in front of them was starting to prove him wrong. Here was the apparent father of Harry McLeod, and they actually were still alive. Though he was still unsure how the night would pan out with how much the demon seemed to care about his son – even if he was adopted. He could not wrap his mind around why some kid would agree to become half demon. Why would someone willingly become a monster?

The headmaster of Hogwarts was leading the way through the hallways, though his mind was elsewhere. He was lost in the thoughts in the recess of his mind. How could a child in his school be a monster and he did not even know? He knew everything that went on in this school, and something that evil within the confines of the castle was able to slip past. His mind tried to reason that the young McLeod was only half demon, but that did not do much to reassure himself that the other children were safe.

The other part in his mind was telling him that the half demon has been at the school for a few months already, and he had not gotten in any trouble, caused any trouble, or was any sort of danger to the other students.

They all continued to walk until they were faced with the statues that stood guard in front of the stairway leading to the office above. The cold, grey gargoyles jumped aside immediately as soon as Dumbledore graced them with his presence. The headmaster went up first, followed by Crowley and Harry, and was lastly followed by Severus. Once inside the office space, Crowley laid his son out on the couch that was against the wall.

Dumbledore motioned his hand towards the chair in front of his desk, but Crowley refused the offer.

"I'd rather stand, thanks."

"Tea or lemon drop?"

"What is this? You harm my son and you expect it all to be better with the offer of sweets and tea? What sort of human are you?" Crowley growled out as he stood in front of Harry almost protectively. Actually, there was no almost about it – he was clearly standing in front of his son in a defensive stance that hinted that he had no qualms about fighting if they were about to harm his son again. He was willing to have a peaceful conversation, but that was even a thin line when all he wanted to do was tear the two professors in front of him apart limb by limb.

Dumbledore took a breath and looked down with an unknown emotion spread across his face. It seemed that it could be remorse or weariness, or a combination of them. The old headmaster truly had no idea where to begin with the demon standing in front of him, but he was helped when Crowley interrupted the silence.

"Well, you wanted to talk, so talk! If not, then I'll be taking Harry here and going home where he will be in a safe environment."

"You will not talk to the headmaster in that tone of voice, this is still his school." Professor Snape mustered his response before Dumbledore was able to reply for his own self.

"I'll talk to him in whatever tone I want. This may be your school, but do you know who I am? I thought that I had made it clear before. As the King of the Crossroads, I have jurisdiction wherever I say I do. I do not care if you are the headmaster of this school or one of its professors. I could easily kill you with the snap of my fingers if I wish it, and you better be thankful that I haven't done so yet." Crowley told them in a deadly low voice.

The anger that Dumbledore saw in the demon's eyes made a shiver of fear crawl up his spine – something that is not easily done. Severus had a similar feeling, but after serving under the power of Voldemort he was not easily threatened.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The truth that came out next was shocking to both Dumbledore and Severus. The truth that they were given was not expected. Sure, they knew by this point that a demon had killed the Dursleys with the help of a hellhound, but they certainly did not expect the same demon to have taken in Harry Potter to raise him as his own son.

Both Dumbledore and Severus were lost for words as they connected the facts that they were just told. Here was a demon who just told them that he had murdered a family because of how they were abusing a child in the house. Crowley told them that one night he was walking through a street in England to hear the cries of a small child being beaten and broken. The demon told them how he returned every night in hopes of being able to finally rescue the child of whom he had not glimpsed except by seeing him through gaps in the blinds.

He told them about how he had taken the shattered body back with him to him home where he had a friend help him heal Harry. Of course he did not mention that the friend was an archangel by the name of Gabriel – he only left it that it was a friend who helped him.

Crowley went on to explain how he and his friend had talked with the child about the supernatural world, and then the demon went on to ask Harry if he would want to be adopted.

After all that the two Hogwarts professors had learned about Harry, they were not surprised that he had said yes to being adopted. Though they both were still distrustful of the demons, but the fact that the Harry McLeod before them was actually Harry Potter, it left them speechless.

"How is it that our tracking and location spells never found him or alerted us that he was here? We've tried it countless times, and a few of those times were during this school year in hopes that he was actually here…" Dumbledore trailed off as he glanced past the demon and over at the boy who appeared to be sleeping on the red couch in his office.

"You used some sort of dark magic to change him, didn't you?" Severus asked Crowley with a dark tone in his voice. Crowley only gave him a look along the lines of 'you have got to be kidding me. Are you seriously that stupid?'

"Of course it's not dark magic, at least not the type you are thinking of. It's demon magic – the magic here that you guys have is completely different than the magic that I have as a demon. Jeeze, it's almost as if I'm talking to a bunch of children." Crowley tried to explain the differences between the types of magic, but the older wizards were so set in their beliefs that they could not or chose not to accept that demon magic was just a different branch of magic and not dark magic.

"You are a dark creature that can use magic, so I would think that it would constitute as dark magic. Besides, if you can do magic, don't you need a wand? I highly doubt that you would be powerful enough to use wandless mag…" Professor Snape was cut off from speaking and thrown against the wall as Crowley raised his hand towards him. Just as quick as that happened, Dumbledore had his wand pointed at Crowley.

"That has crossed a line. You will not attack anyone here."

"What? I was just making a point. And you better move that stick somewhere else or I might just have to break a few bones." Crowley commented with a smile. The headmaster did not lower his wand, but he did start to mutter a curse towards the demon. At least he was about to before his wand was ripped out of his hand and flown to the other side of the room. A shocked look came across the old man's face as he stared at the location where his wand fell.

"But that's impossible! I made it so my wand would never be able to be taken from me without my consent. How did you do that?"

"Demon trumps wizard I suppose." And with that, Crowley let Severus fall to the ground with a thump.

"I don't know about you two, but I feel that if I stayed here any longer, I would kill something. So I am going to take my son with me back home, and I am sure that you'll hear from us soon so we can have an actual, civil talk." Crowley picked Harry up despite Dumbledore's pleas for them to stay, and they were gone from the room.

"They just vanished… That's impossible…" Dumbledore was again stunned into silence as he looked at the spot where Crowley was moments before.

"Demon trumps Hogwarts I guess." Severus added from where he was standing up from where he fell on the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Crowley, with Harry held in his arms, appeared in a small house just outside the area of Hogsmead. He figured that with two of the staff members knowing about Harry – both the half demon and who he was before – that it would be better to stay closer for the time being. He really did not need to leave Hogwarts, but he did not trust the nurse, or whatever she was called, there, and he figured that it would be best to keep Gabriel out of the picture and staying under the radar of the wizards and witches.

Speaking of the archangel, Gabriel chose that moment to appear before Crowley and Harry to help in any way that he could. He had a huge grin on his face that instantly vanished when he saw the state that the boy was in. Gabriel dashed forward to the spot that Crowley had laid him out on the couch and placed a hand on his forehead.

"What happened to him?" All Gabriel knew was that Harry had sent out a distress call earlier through the pendant that he was given, along with the location of where he was. Gabriel had instantly found Crowley and informed him of the silent message that he was given. They both agreed that it would be best that Crowley was the only one who would go, and that they would meet up later.

"They found out." Was all that Crowley offered as a reply as he moved Harry's head momentarily so he could sit down on the couch. He laid the small head back down onto his leg and ran a hand through the hair, ignoring the slight stinging of residual salt and the dampness of holy water. Gabriel promptly snapped his fingers, and Harry was clean from all salt and holy water that may have still clung to his form.

"Is that all that they did to him?" Gabriel asked in a low voice that was filled with concern that matched the worry in his eyes. All Crowley could do was shake his head as he clamped his eyes shut in anger. He took a deep breath and told his friend what happened.

"They tried to exorcise him. They almost killed him…"he trailed off as the seriousness of what he stopped came slamming into him at full force. "They almost killed him, and they couldn't care less if he died." The demon's body was still as he tried to calm himself from the emotions he was having.

"Crowley? Are you okay?" Gabriel hesitantly asked from the side of the room when he saw how his friend was reacting to retelling the events.

"No, Gabriel, I am not okay. I want to kill them. I want to slowly carve the flesh off their bones. I want to make them come close to death before making them whole again and start all over with the knife. I want to hear them scream and cry out for help that will never come. I want every last one of them to know the pain I am feeling right now. I want to drain the blood from their bodies and see the light of their eyes go out. And I still do, oh trust me do I ever still do." Gabriel had seemed to back away a few steps from the demon, and he seemed truly scared of Crowley at that moment, but was partially relieved when he continued with his line of thinking.

"But I won't. Maybe one day I will get the chance, but they are still Harry's professors, and he needs them to learn. So maybe after Harry graduates or something, and I can get him to help me kill them for the pain they caused him. That is, if Harry still wants to attend the school. You never know, he may want to go back and kill them when he wakes up." Crowley seemed to slowly come back to his old usual self that Gabriel is used to as he ranted on and stroked Harry's hair to seem to reassure himself that he was still there and alive.

"Though I can't promise anything the next time I see them – which will probably be in the next day or so. It all depends on what Harry thinks."

"Want me to come with you two when you do go back? You know, to act as a sort of referee or something between you and them?" Gabriel asked. The demon only gave him a weird look.

"How can you be so calm with what they did to him? Don't you want to hurt them for what they did?"

"Of course I care about Harry, and of course I want to hurt them. It's just that he's fine now, they probably did not mean to harm him – after all, they did think he was possessed and they did not know that he is a half demon and that an exorcism would kill him."

"Your angel side is showing again – making excuses for their actions." Crowley shook his head. "I suppose that I couldn't hurt if you joined us later when we do go and talk. You coming as just a friend, or will you let them know who you really are?"

"I think that I'll go as just a friend, human as can be, or maybe as the Trickster. I don't really know. I think that it would be fun to see their faces when they found out that not only is Harry living with a demon, but with an angel as well." Crowley had to laugh a little at that, and agreed once more to letting the angel tag along.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dumbledore had called for all of the staff members to join him in one of the larger meeting rooms. When the last of the professors joined him in the room, he called the meeting to order. He had no idea how to begin to tell them all about what he and Severus had learned just hours ago.

"Albus, what is this about? We all have classes early in the morning and we need our sleep." One of the more strict professors asked what was on everyone's mind.

"I honestly don't know what to tell you or how to even start."

"Then let me tell them." Severus cut in and bluntly said as he pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning up against. The headmaster seemed to think about it for a moment before telling the professor that he did not need to do so – that he was more than capable of telling them all himself. After all, he is the headmaster of Hogwarts and should be able to tell his staff anything of importance that they would need to know. Deciding not to stall anymore, Dumbledore went with the bit of news that they all would be thrilled to hear first.

"What I am about to tell you needs to stay within the confines of the school, and before I tell you all, I wish that you will allow me to place a secrecy spell upon all of you. You all will know why as soon as I tell you, but I will not tell you what it is until you agree to be put under the secrecy spell" At the nods from the staff members, the headmaster quickly performed the secrecy spell, and then continued on with a very straightforward answer to their questions.

"We found Harry Potter." Instantly the whole room, save for Severus and Albus, was put in a frenzy. Questions of 'where is he' and 'is he okay' filled the room and came from all over. Having enough of the commotion, Dumbledore called for silence. After a few seconds, the meeting room was quiet once again.

"As I was saying, we have found Harry Potter, but it is not what we have hoped." He brought a hand up to silence any questions that were bound to be asked. "It would do you all better if I were to begin with where it all started. Earlier in the year, Severus came to me with concerns regarding one of the students in his house, and I am sure you all know him. His name is Harry McLeod. As I was saying, Severus came to me and told me that he was not sure if Harry was even human." Dumbledore ignored the gasps that resounded around the room.

"He was already doing some research for me on several dark creatures, and he saw some warning signs that were similar to those in some of the creatures he was learning about. So, in his first year potion classes, Severus had the students use an iron stirring rod. When Mr. McLeod picked one of the iron rods up, Severus tells me that the boy seemed to be in pain. After Harry got back to his desk, he wrapped the end of the iron rod with a cloth he had. This would keep the iron from touching his skin. To keep a long story short, the iron definitely had a negative effect on the boy.

"During the Christmas holidays you all know that Severus took a trip to America. While he was there, he was able to do a lot more in depth research on several of the dark creatures that he was able to narrow it down to. From there, he formed several plans that we could use, and we both agreed upon one of them to do next.

"You all are also aware of the few Defense classes that Severus filled in for, and what he saw during those solidified what he had found out while in America. He began teaching the students about some of the creatures found mostly only in America, and one of the first ones he taught them about was demons.

"Severus tells me that he had passed around several containers of salt and holy water, and one of the flasks of holy water accidently spilled on Harry. Now, that was not on purpose, but it worked in our favor. No one around the boy noticed, but Severus was able to see that he was in pain from where the holy water soaked down through his clothes and where it touched his skin. Severus did not bring it to attention during class, but he did ask Mr. McLeod to come back to his room later that night.

"I was immediately notified of this by Severus, and I allowed him to continue forth with the plan. In the classroom he placed a devil's trap on the ceiling. A devil's trap is something that acts as a sort of cage for demons – they can go in them, but they can't get out unless the symbols are broken.

"So, later that night the boy shows up at the door of the classroom and enters. He walks forward until he passes under the devil's trap, and he is forced to come to a halt. This was the final clue that solidified what he is. At first Severus and I only think that Harry was possessed by a demon, but we were sadly proven wrong." Dumbledore took a moment to take a drink from his goblet before he continued.

"So, after Severus had come and gotten me from my office, we try to get his to tell us why he was possessing the boy. After a while, we agree that we were getting nowhere, and that the best course of action would be to exorcise him. Severus begins the exorcism, but was interrupted by a man who appeared behind us and forced the book away from Severus with magic.

"The man tells us to step away from his son, and we learn after talking for a good while that the man is not really a man, but a demon. He tells us that his name is Crowley. So the demon explains to us that Harry McLeod is not a demon, but a half demon. He was, and is not possessed." The headmaster allowed the people in the room to think about all that he has said so far before carrying on with his explanation.

"We learned that Harry McLeod is half demon, and the demon part of him is just as a part of him as his magic is right now, and that if Severus had continued with the exorcism, that the boy would have died." It was then when Professor Sprout cut in with her own question despite the headmaster's want for silence while he talked.

"But how is he half demon?"

"Apparently, he underwent a ritual of some sort that bonded him and the demon Crowley together – I am told that it made Harry Crowley's son, and that they are technically family now. That is why we were not able to find Harry Potter. It is because we were looking under the wrong name. The ritual changed Harry and allowed him to change his name.

"I am saddened to say that the life Harry had while under the care of the Dursleys was not a good one, as I believe most of you know by now. It was Crowley who heard his cries for help and rescued him. It was the demon who killed the family and gave Harry a new one with him." Dumbledore was quiet as talk began amongst the staff members as some of them were outraged that it was a demon that saved Harry, and others were talking about what had to be done now that they knew who and what he was.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was several hours later when Harry's condition took a turn for the worst and he took his last breath.


End file.
